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The coronavirus most likely first appeared in humans after jumping from an animal, a team of international and Chinese scientists looking for the origins of COVID-19 said Tuesday, dismissing as unlikely an alternate theory that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab.

A closely watched visit by World Health Organisation experts to Wuhan — the Chinese city where the first coronavirus cases were discovered — did not dramatically change the current understanding of the early days of the pandemic, said Peter Ben Embarek, the leader of the WHO mission.

But it did "add details to that story", he said at a news conference as the group wrapped up a nearly four-week visit to the city.

READ MORE: WHO team heads to controversial China bat lab

And it allowed the joint Chinese-WHO team to rule out one theory on the origins of the virus. The Wuhan Institute of Virology has collected many virus samples, leading to allegations that it may have been the source of the original outbreak, whether on purpose or accidentally.

But experts now consider the possibility of such a leak so improbable that it will not be suggested as an avenue of future study, said Embarek, a WHO food safety and animal diseases expert.

China had already strongly rejected that possibility and has promoted other theories. The Chinese and foreign experts considered several ideas for how the disease first ended up in humans, leading to a pandemic that has now killed more than 2.3 million people worldwide.

READ MORE: WHO team in Wuhan begin coronavirus investigation after clearing quarantine

Embarek said the initial findings suggest the most likely pathway the virus followed was from a bat to another animal and then to humans, adding that would require further research.

"The findings suggest that the laboratory incidents hypothesis is extremely unlikely to explain the introduction of the virus to the human population," he said.

The mission was intended to be an initial step in the process of understanding the origins of the virus, which scientists have posited may have passed to humans through a wild animal, such as a pangolin or bamboo rat. Transmission directly from bats to humans or through the trade in frozen food products are also possibilities, Embarek said.

The WHO team's visit is politically sensitive for Beijing, which is concerned about being blamed for alleged missteps in its early response to the outbreak. An AP investigation has found that the Chinese government put limits on research into the outbreak and ordered scientists not to speak to reporters.

The team — which includes experts from 10 countries who arrived on January 14 — visited the Huanan Seafood Market, the site of an early cluster of cases in late 2019.

Marion Koopmans, a Dutch virologist on the team, said that some animals at the market were susceptible or suspected to be susceptible to the virus, including rabbits and bamboo rats. And some could be traced to farms or traders in regions that are home to the bats that carry the closest related virus to the one that causes COVID-19.

She said the next step would be to look more closely at farms.

Liang Wannian, the head of the Chinese side, said the virus also appeared to have been spreading in other parts of the city than the market, so it remains possible that the virus originated elsewhere.

The team found no evidence that the disease was spreading widely any earlier than the initial outbreak in the second half of December 2019.

"We haven't been able to fully do the research, but there is no indication there were clusters before what we saw happen in the later part of December in Wuhan," Liang said.

Another member of the WHO team, British-born zoologist Peter Daszak, told The Associated Press late last week that they enjoyed a greater level of openness than they had anticipated, and that they were granted full access to all sites and personnel they requested.

The visit by the WHO team took months to negotiate. China only agreed to it amid international pressure at the WHO's World Health Assembly meeting last May, and Beijing has continued to resist calls for a strictly independent investigation.

While China has weathered some localised resurgences of infection since getting the outbreak under control last year, life in Wuhan itself has largely returned to normal.

A positive COVID-19 case linked to the Adelaide's tennis quarantine program was not revealed to the public when it was detected, 9News has been told.

The result was returned by a support staffer of one of the players.

"Nine News repeatedly asked authorities in the lead-up to The Day At The Drive event if anyone had tested positive to COVID," 9News reporter Rory McClaren said tonight.

"We understand the result came from a member of a player's support staff and not one of the players themselves.

"The result indicated an old infection and the person was shedding the virus, that means it wasn't deemed an active case, nor recorded int eh state's statistics. But previously, similar cases have been made public."

The result came to light after French men's player Benoit Paire raised questions about players' treatment ahead of the Australian Open.

Paire had previously claimed there had been a positive COVID-19 case in Adelaide while Melbourne players were in lockdown.

READ MORE: Sunshine and superstars on day two of the Australian Open

Shadow Health Minister Chris Picton has questioned why the result wasn't announced.

"There's been other cases of old infections where the public has been told, why did (Premier) Steven Marshall decide not to tell us about this particular case?" he said.

Chief Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said in a statement there was no requirement to publicly report the case and that health authorities had sought to avoid double-counting of cases already found overseas who had recovered and no longer deemed infectious.

French men's Australian Open contestant Benoit Paire had previously claimed there had been a positive COVID-19 case in Adelaide, while Melbourne players were in lockdown.

Pauline Hanson has called for a ban on hate symbols like swastikas, sparking warnings from civil libertarians.

Senator Hanson said Prime Minister Scott Morrison should work on creating laws to forbid the display of symbols like the swastika and the ISIS flag.

"I think it's offensive, I think it's insulting, and I think it's intimidating," Senator Hanson said.

READ MORE: Pauline Hanson URL directed to refugee site

"Australians do not like racism and they do not like hatred."

Senator Hanson, in her maiden speech to Parliament in 1996, claimed Australia was in danger of being "swamped by Asians".

When she entered the Senate in 2016, she called for a halt to Muslim immigration and the banning of the burqa.

Civil libertarians have said a legal ban on hate symbols could be a dangerous move that might have serious consequences on freedom of speech.

"The fact is, freedom of speech in a free society means that you have to cop some images, such as those flags, that you find personally offensive," lawyer Terry O'Gorman said.

READ MORE: Hanson slams Queensland's Olympic bid

Senator Hanson recently showed support for embattled government backbencher Craig Kelly over his attempt to lobby the government to look into alternate COVID-19 treatments.

Mr O'Gorman said Mr Kelly also had a right to speak on the subject.

"The fact is that Craig Kelly has a right to be fundamentally wrong, and, some people would say, fundamentally stupidly wrong," he said.

NSW has declared anyone who stayed at the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport over a two-week period must now isolate again after being deemed a close contact to new coronavirus cases that have emerged at the quarantine hotel.

The previous advice was that only people on the third floor were close contacts after a woman tested positive to COVID-19 in Melbourne two days after completing her 14-day quarantine at the Holiday Inn.

A food and beverage worker at the same hotel also tested positive to COVID-19, with that result only emerging late this afternoon.

https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1359079850170978306?s=20

"Anyone who worked or stayed on any floor of the hotel between 27 January and 9 February is now considered a close contact who must get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result," NSW Health said in a statement tonight.

Health Minister Martin Foley confirmed the two new cases.

The first woman, a returned traveller, left the Holiday Inn on Sunday. She returned the positive test today after testing negative several times during her quarantine period.

Mr Foley said early interviews with her indicated she had not left her house except to get a COVID-19 test.

Close contacts, including those who completed their quarantine on Sunday, will be now be required to isolate again for 14 days.

Mr Foley said it was not yet known if the two hotel workers and the returned traveller had been in contact with each other.

"It is early days … that is one of the areas that is being explored," he said.

Investigations are also being made as to whether a certain floor may be a particular area of risk.

READ MORE: Eddie McGuire steps down as Collingwood president after 22-year tenure

"It would appear that it was one particular floor and that floor has certainly not taken any further residents," Mr Foley said.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the facility was being closely observed and it was likely transmission did occur on the same floor.

"We will go through a process of review and discussing it in terms of the operational needs, how much it has been paired back already and advise if that is required," he said.

Residents in hotel quarantine are tested on days three and 11 but additional testing is now being carried out at the Holiday Inn.

"We are certainly testing all of those people who were at the facility at that time and subsequently have moved away," Mr Foley said.

The health minister said he did not think it was appropriate to shut down the Holiday Inn yet.

READ MORE: Crown deemed 'not suitable' to hold gaming licence at Barangaroo: Bergin report

"Not at the moment, we don't think so. The numbers are right down anyway," Mr Foley said.

Professor Sutton said it was possible the cases were genetically linked but could not confirm how they came about.

"Cases can happen anywhere at any time and they can happen without a breach of protocol or without any particular erroring being made," he said.

"We are talking about an incredibly infectious virus.

"We have known that airborne transmission is possible, the extent to which it occurs and how well you can reduce that risk is a matter for ongoing review."

The CHO said it was likely more cases could crop up.

Police are asking for the public to help identify two cars of interest in relation to the disappearance of a Melbourne mother who vanished more than a week ago.

Ju Zhang, also known as Kelly, disappeared from her Winchester Avenue home in Epping about 5.30pm last Monday, with the possibility of her being murdered a consideration for police.

Investigators are appealing for any CCTV vision that may have captured a black 2008 Mazda CX9 station wagon, with registration WKE 850, or a white Toyota Land Cruiser.

Both cars are believed to have travelled through these areas sometime between 4pm on February 1 and 8am on February 2.

A 35-year-old Doncaster man was arrested by police on Sunday afternoon but was released last night without charge pending further enquiries.

Police say they have located his car and know it was driving between Epping and Doncaster alongside our white land cruiser on the night she disappeared.

Understood to be Ms Zhang's partner, he says he last saw the young mother outside her home at 5.30pm on Monday.

He was released after more than 24 hours of questioning.

Officers are today speaking to residents in both Epping and Doncaster as part of the investigation into Ms Zhang's disappearance and are asking people in those areas to check their CCTV footage from the afternoon she went missing.

Police have been concerned for Ms Zhang's welfare as she left her eight-year-old son alone and her disappearance is extremely out of character.

The 33-year-old mother was wearing a pink pyjama top and shorts and no shoes at the time of her disappearance.

She did not have any personal belongings with her at the time and her mobile phone is missing.

Anyone with any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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