Topline
World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday the organization is still working to determine the origin of the Covid-19 virus and that “all hypotheses” remain on the table, following U.S. reports this week that the most likely cause of the pandemic was a lab leak.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said all Covid origin theories … [+] remain on the table.
Key Facts
In a press conference on Friday, Ghebreyesus said the WHO has “not abandoned any plans to identify” the origin of the virus.
Ghebreyesus said he has spoken to Chinese officials multiple times in recent months, and that the organization is still looking for additional Covid data from China, saying it would be “impossible” to conclude where exactly the virus originated without additional information.
His comments come just days after the Department of Energy concluded the virus most likely originated from a Chinese lab—a claim that Beijing vehemently denies and scientists speculate might not be accurate—though the department admitted its conclusion with low confidence.
FBI Director Christopher Wray reiterated that theory in an interview with Fox News this week, saying the virus likely came from a lab leak in Wuhan, China.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Contra
While the Department of Energy concluded Covid likely came from a lab leak and not another source—such as a wet market or from a Chinese biological weapons program—other U.S. officials were not as confident that enough information has been collected to make a definitive determination. Speaking to CNN on Sunday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan admitted there is “not a definitive answer” from the “intelligence community” as to where the virus came from.
Key Background
Covid-19 is widely considered to have emerged from Wuhan, China, where the first outbreak of the coronavirus occurred in late 2019 and early 2020—although its specific origin within the city has been a subject of debate throughout the pandemic. One predominant theory among scientists is that the virus jumped from animals to humans in a wet market in Wuhan, where vendors sold live mammals. Two studies published in the journal Science found most of the first patients who contracted the virus lived close to the market. Some government officials, including former President Donald Trump—asserted the more likely theory is that the virus came from a leak at the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory. Experts, however, remain skeptical about the theory. Researchers in a March 2020 study published in Nature Medicine said they “do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible.”
Further Reading
Covid Lab Leak Theory: Some Government Agencies Believe It—Here’s Why Most Scientists Don’t (Forbes)
Timeline: How The Covid Lab Leak Origin Story Went From ‘Conspiracy Theory’ To Government Debate (Forbes)
Read More
Brian Bushard