WHO food safety and animal diseases expert Peter Ben Embarek said in a press briefing Friday that live animal markets play a key role in providing food and jobs to millions of people and that authorities should focus on improving safety standards rather than shutting them down.
"Food safety in these environments is rather difficult and therefore it’s not surprising that sometimes we also have these events happening within markets," Embarek said.
The WHO expert added that improving hygiene and food safety standards at wet markets could reduce the risk of diseases being transmitted from animals to humans and noted that investigators are still trying to clarify the precise animal from which the coronavirus jumped to first infect humans.