Washington: US President Donald Trump says his government is trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from a lab in Wuhan, China, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Beijing "needs to come clean" on what they know.

The source of the virus remains a mystery, although the broad scientific consensus holds that SARS-CoV-2, its official name, originated in bats. It is generally believed that it infected humans via another animal, possibly a pangolin, sold at a wet market in Wuhan.

General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday, US time, that US intelligence indicated the coronavirus likely occurred naturally, as opposed to being created in a laboratory in China, but there was no certainty either way.

A vendor unloads boxes of goods at the Baishazhou wet market in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The Chinese city where the coronavirus first emerged has stirred back to life following a lockdown lasting for months. Credit:Bloomberg

Fox News reported on Wednesday that the virus originated in a Wuhan laboratory not as a bioweapon, but as part of China's effort to demonstrate that its efforts to identify and combat viruses were equal to or greater than the capabilities of the United States.