Australian officials on Wednesday called for Group of 20 (G-20) countries to “take action” on the wildlife markets where the coronavirus is believed to have originated, although they stopped short of calling for an outright ban.

Australia’s government specifically called for an investigation into wet markets selling wildlife following a meeting of G-20 agriculture ministers, according to the BBC.

Australian Agriculture Minister David Littleproud stressed that not all wet markets posed such a risk.

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A wet market, like the Sydney fish market, is "perfectly safe," Littleproud said.

"But when you add wildlife, live wildlife, exotic wildlife — that opens up human risk and biosecurity risk to the extent we have seen. And in fact, China themselves reported this to the World Organization for Animal Health, that that was the cause of COVID-19,” he added.

Littleproud added that it would be necessary to “get the science” first, but added, "even our chief veterinary officer is telling us that he believes they [wildlife markets] may need to be phased out."

China has temporarily banned the trade of wildlife since the coronavirus outbreak, which is believed to have originated in a market in the city of Wuhan. But China is expected to begin the process of rolling back restrictions.

Other officials have also called for a ban on wildlife wet markets, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Michael (Mike) Richard PompeoOvernight Defense: House Democrats unveil stopgap spending measure to GOP opposition | Bill includes .6B for new subs | Trump issues Iran sanctions after world shrugs at US action at UN Navalny calls on Russia to return clothes he was wearing when he fell ill US issues Iran sanctions to enforce UN action ignored by international community MORE.

“On this Earth Day, we call on the People’s Republic of China and other countries to close wildlife wet markets permanently, a move that would reduce risks to human health inside and outside of China and discourage the consumption of trafficked wildlife and wildlife products,” Pompeo said in a statement Wednesday. “We call on all governments to join our efforts to combat and put an end to the scourge that is wildlife trafficking.”