Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called out the World Health Organization (WHO) for their decision to back the reopening of China’s notorious wet markets, which are reportedly to blame for the Covid-19 outbreak.

Speaking on Nine’s Today this morning, the PM told hosts Karl Stefanovic and Alison Langdon that he is “totally puzzled” by the decision.

“It’s unfathomable, frankly,” he said. “We need to protect the world against potential sources of outbreaks of these types of viruses. It’s happened too many times. We don’t have them here in Australia. I am just puzzled by that decision.”

It comes as he told The Australian that he was not confident that wet markets could be made safe.

“Australia and the world will be looking to organisations like the WHO to ensure lessons are learned from the devastating coronavirus outbreak,” Morrison told The Australian. “There must be transparency in understanding how it began in Wuhan and how it was transmitted. We also need to fully understand and protect against the global health threat posed by places like wet markets.”

Earlier this month, as it was reported that thousands of people had started to flood back into wet markets in China, the PM told 2GB radio host Alan Jones that more needs to be done to limit the risk posed by these markets.

“Wet markets, I think, [are] a very real and significant problem wherever they exist,” he said. “This virus started in China and went round the world … we all know that. And these wet markets can be a real problem when it comes to what can occur in those markets. I think from a world health point of view, this is something the World Health Organization should do something about.”

Experts believe the coronavirus originated at a wet market in Wuhan, but the WHO maintains that it does not condone the closure of the markets because “they are a source of livelihood and food security to many people”. This comes as predictions that up to 1.4 million Australians could be out of work by mid-year, with the unemployment rate set to reach 10 per cent — the highest level it’s reached in almost three decades.

The WHO said that the wet markets could be made safe with “proper regulation and good hygiene practices” but many Australian MPs believe they presented a risk to the world. Liberal senator James Paterson told The Australian that China needed to get its “house in order” if it wanted to be a global leader.

“Allowing bad hygiene and poor food handling practices to flourish despite years of warnings about the danger to human health does not beet that test,” he said.

Meanwhile, Labor MP Peter Khalil said it was “preposterous” to claim that the markets could be made safe.

“Unless they can demonstrate that the regulations, the health and safety measures, are so strict that they can completely cut off the risk factors, they’re going to have to shut them down,” he said. “It’s happened with SARS. It’s happened with avian influenza. It’s happened with Covid-19. Next time it might be an even worse virus.”

Across the pond, President Donald Trump has also put pressure on the WHO, declaring that the United States would halt funding for the organisation.

“They’ve been wrong about a lot of things,” he said. “We’re going to put a hold on money [sent] to the WHO. We’re going to put a very powerful hold on it.”