MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th April, 2020) The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends reopening wet markets only on condition that they obey strict hygiene standards, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday, stressing the need to maintain the ban on the sale of wildlife for food.
"WHO's position is that when these markets are allowed to reopen, it should only be on the condition that they conform to stringent food safety and hygiene standards," Tedros said, as quoted by the global organization on Twitter.
Governments at the same time "must rigorously enforce bans on the sale and trade of wildlife for food," he added.
Some scientists claimed that the coronavirus, which has already infected more than 2.2 million people worldwide and killed over 149,000, likely mutated in bats before jumping to humans in a wet market in China's city of Wuhan. There are, however, reports disputing these claims and arguing that COVID-19 originated in a laboratory in Wuhan.
UN Convention on Biological Diversity Acting Executive Secretary Elizabeth Maruma Mrema said in early April that wet markets increase the risk of zoonotic disease spread, and reducing the number of live animals there might help to significantly reduce the probability of future outbreaks.
