GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization’s top emergency expert said on Friday it would be “highly speculative” for the WHO to say the coronavirus did not emerge in China, where it was first identified in December last year.

Mike Ryan was speaking at a virtual briefing in Geneva after being asked if COVID-19 could have first emerged outside China. It was first identified in the central city of Wuhan.

“You start your investigation where the first human cases emerged,” he said.