MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. The origin of COVID-19 may remain unknown forever, the Chumakov Federal Scientific Center’s Development Director Konstantin Chernov told TASS on Thursday.

"The odds are high that scientists will never be able to identify the true origin of SARS-CoV-2. Detailed research needs to be conducted to fully understand the situation, which require a number of administrative and even political decisions that aren’t directly related to science. It seems almost impossible at the moment," he pointed out.

Meanwhile, the virus is believed to be of natural origin until proven otherwise, Chernov noted. "According to the most reasonable and responsible researchers, the virus itself does not bear any unequivocal signs of having been man-made," he said.

The UK-based Lancet medical journal’s COVID-19 commission earlier published a report saying that "hypotheses about both natural and laboratory spillovers are in play and need further investigation.".