ALSO READ: Biden signs law declassifying US intel on Covid origin Meanwhile, the World Health Organization reiterated calls for China to share information, insisting that all hypotheses would continue to remain on the table until this happened.
Data from the early days of the COVID pandemic was briefly uploaded by Chinese scientists to an international database last month.
It included genetic sequences found in more than 1,000 environmental and animal samples taken in January 2020 at the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan.
The data showed that DNA from multiple animal species - including raccoon dogs - was present in environmental samples that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, suggesting that they were "the most likely conduits" of the disease, according to a team of international researchers.