Comment by COVID-19 Global Risk Assessment- Version 9

While available information is insufficient to definitively conclude the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the independent assessment of SARS-CoV-2 origins report (June 2025) published by the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) reviewed all available evidence for each of the two main hypotheses: introduction from a natural zoonotic source(s) as a spillover event(s) either directly to humans from wild animals or through an intermediate host, or an accidental laboratory-related event, which may have involved exposure to the virus during field research or a breach in laboratory biosafety procedures. It concluded that while a zoonotic origin with spillover from animals to humans is currently considered the best supported hypothesis by the available scientific data, until requests for further information are met or more scientific data becomes available, the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and how it entered the human population will remain inconclusive.