On February 9, 2021, Izvestia website posted the article "They are returning: WHO experts will conduct the second stage of the investigation in Wuhan". The decision to hold the second phase was discussed at the press conference following a four-week WHO investigation in Wuhan. The investigation was carried out by scientists from the USA, Australia, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Russia, the Netherlands and other countries. In total, 17 WHO experts and 17 specialists from China participated in the mission. During the investigation, the experts were allowed to visit two hospitals where the first patients were treated and Huanan Seafood Market. The specialists talked with doctors, patients and their relatives, and also visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This provided no new information on the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The most likely hypothesis of the origin of the coronavirus is animal-to-human transmission via yet unknown intermediary host. According to the expert, Deputy Director for Research of Saint- Petersburg Pasteur Institute, Vladimir Dedkov, "the first part of the mission is coming to an end, but there will be a second".