This undated handout photo by the  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the US National Institutes of Health, obtained on Aug 1, 2021, shows a transmission electron color-enhanced micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles isolated from a patient. (NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH / NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES / AFP)

NEW YORK - Animal trans-species transmission is the most likely origin of COVID-19 based on current scientific data, according to a recent article published in the US science journal, the Cell.

READ MORE: China slams US for using vaccines as anti-China lures

Scientists have added more depth and diversity to the understanding of the viral origins of SARS-CoV-2, sequencing 411 bat samples from a small region in China's Yunnan collected between 2019 and 2020, leading to 24 full-length coronavirus genomes, according to the article titled "The continuing search for the origins of SARS-CoV-2."

ALSO READ: Chinese envoy: Politicizing origin tracing will cost more lives

Evolution, environment, and humanity are critical factors in disease emergence.

Based on what scientists know, bats, more specifically the Horseshoe bats inhabiting somewhere in Southeast Asia, are most likely the source of the origin of the disease, as bats naturally harbor CoV, according to the article.