The World Health Organization has moved a proposal to go in for a second phase of studies into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic in China which would require audits of laboratories and markets in Wuhan.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus presented the plan to member states a day after saying that investigations were being hampered by the lack of raw data on the first days of spread of COVID-19 in China.

"Finding the origins of this virus is a scientific exercise that must be kept free from politics. For that to happen, we expect China to support this next phase of the scientific process by sharing all relevant data in a spirit of transparency," Tedros said.

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Phase two work would require studies of humans, wildlife and animal markets in Wuhan, including Huanan wholesale market. It would also require audits of relevant laboratories and research institutions operating in the area of the initial human cases identified in December 2019," Tedros said.

According to a Reuters report, China opposed the proposal at the closed-door talks saying: "This plan is not a basis for future studies."

The WHO team’s earlier report on the origins of coronavirus co-authored with China in March this year had come under severe criticism from several countries as members of the team had revealed that they had largely been confined to their hotel during the visit and were not allowed to make their own enquiries.

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Chinese authorities refused to provide World Health Organization investigators with raw, personalized data on early Covid-19 cases that could help them determine how and when the coronavirus first began to spread in China, The Wall Street Journal had reported citing WHO investigators.

There were “heated exchanges” during the visit between WHO and Chinese officials over the “lack of detail.”

The WHO chief had said on Thursday that investigations into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in China were being hampered by the lack of raw data on the first days of its spread in Wuhan.

"We owe it to the millions who suffered and the millions who died to know what happened," he said.

The issue was also discussed at the G7 meeting last week, which the WHO chief attended via video conference.