China’s wildlife trade should be thoroughly investigated as part of efforts to uncover the origin of the coronavirus pandemic, say researchers. The call comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) is sending scientists to China this weekend, ahead of plans for a larger international research team to probe the pandemic’s origin.

“The mission objective is to advance the understanding of animal hosts for COVID-19 and ascertain how the disease jumped between animals and humans,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general, at a press briefing on 7 July.