The COVID-19 lab leak theory is in the spotlight again, but not everyone is convinced that's how the pandemic began.
A US government department has assessed with "low confidence" that the COVID-19 pandemic began with a lab leak.
A crucial question has eluded governments and health agencies around the world since the COVID-19 pandemic began: Did the virus originate in animals or leak from a Chinese lab? United States National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said there is "no consensus" on how the COVID-19 pandemic began.The DOE's conclusion was first reported at the weekend in the Wall Street Journal, which said the classified report was based on new intelligence and noted in an update to a 2021 document. The DOE oversees a national network of labs.
Alina Chan, molecular biologist at the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, said she isn't sure what new intelligence the agencies had, but "it's reasonable to infer" it relates to activities at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. She said a 2018 research proposal co-authored by scientists there and their US collaborators "essentially described a blueprint for COVID-like viruses.
Last year, the World Health Organization recommended a deeper investigation into a possible lab accident. Dr Chan said she hopes the latest report sparks more investigation in the United States.Many scientists believe the animal-to-human theory of the coronavirus remains much more plausible. They theorise it emerged in the wild and jumped from bats to humans, either directly or through another animal.
The US should be more transparent and release the new intelligence that apparently swayed the DOE, Dr Worobey said.
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