World Health Organization experts visited an animal disease control center in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Tuesday, on the fifth day of their investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The team of investigators wore full protective gear during the visit to the Hubei Provincial Animal Disease Control and Prevention Center, which was one of the first places for the team to start their inspection after completing a 14-day quarantine upon arrival in China.

A team member, Peter Daszak of non-governmental EcoHealth Alliance, told the press that the inspection was going “really well, excellent” before the field visit. He later tweeted that the team met key staff in charge of livestock surveillance in Hubei, toured laboratories and had an “in-depth discussion” along with a Q&A session.

The Hubei Provincial Animal Disease Control and Prevention Center is mainly responsible for monitoring and controlling epidemics among animals, and diseases found both in humans and animals. The expert team was believed to have visited the center to collect data regarding how the novel coronavirus was first transmitted from bats to humans.

WHO earlier pointed out that the likelihood of the virus coming from bats was increasingly promising. Multiple studies have shown that the natural host that led to the 2003 SARS epidemic in Asia was a species of bat common in southern China.

The expert team had already visited major hospitals in Wuhan, the regional disease control center, as well as the Huanan seafood market, where the first cluster was believed to have been found in late 2019. But Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, said the investigation might not find all the answers, since more questions arose as the inspection moved on.

Epidemiologist Maria van Kerkhove, the agency’s technical lead on COVID-19, said the delegation had “fruitful” discussions with Chinese health authorities, but the information collected needed further analysis.

According to the latest figures from China’s National Health Commission, the country recorded 30 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total number of infections to 89,564 individuals.

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