Did COVID Originally Leak From a Chinese Lab? Politics May Prevent Us Ever Knowing for Sure

China was quick to dispel reemergent COVID-19 “lab leak” theories following a Wall Street Journal report this weekend that the U.S. Department of Energy has concluded, with “low confidence,” that the virus behind the pandemic most likely originated in a Chinese laboratory. Mao Ning, spokesperson for China’s foreign affairs ministry, told reporters Monday that “certain parties” should “stop smearing China” and that the “lab leak” theory has already been authoritatively disproven. “The origins-tracing of SARS-CoV-2 is about science and should not be politicized,” said Mao. (The U.S. government is still investigating the origins of COVID-19, and both the FBI and the Energy Department have determined that a lab leak is the most likely source of the virus.) [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Researchers around the world have been endeavoring since the outbreak began in 2020 to determine the provenance of the virus. Knowing how the pandemic started, experts believe, can significantly aid the efforts to bring it to an end—and prevent future global pandemics. But three years and nearly seven million lives lost later, there’s still little certainty over whether the virus first naturally infected humans at a seafood market in Wuhan, as many scientists originally believed, or escaped a laboratory, as the Energy Department now reportedly believes based on undisclosed new intelligence. And ...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 News Team Source Type: news