The World Health Organization (WHO) is in talks with China to send a delegation to the country for further investigations on the novel coronavirus, said Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical lead for the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, on Wednesday.

The academic mission will focus on what "happened at the beginning in terms of the exposures with different animals" so the WHO can find the zoonotic source of the virus, said Van Kerkhove at a press conference in Geneva.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying on Thursday said China supports the WHO's efforts to investigate the origin of COVID-19 and will continue to work with WHO on virus traceability in an open, transparent and responsible manner.

Meanwhile, Hua said China opposes attempts by the U.S. and other individual countries to politicize the issue.

"Virus traceability is a scientific issue, which should be researched by scientists and professionals and get conclusions on the basis of sufficient argumentation", Hua added. 

In February, the WHO sent a team of international experts to China to learn more about the situation of the outbreak in the country and how the virus was spreading.

Read more: WHO experts visit Wuhan, the COVID-19 epicenter