Did coronavirus originate from this lab in China's Wuhan? | All you need to know
Speculation has swirled since the start of the pandemic that Covid-19 may have emerged from a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Its scientists conduct research on the world's most dangerous diseases and helped shed light on the Covid-19 pathogen in the early days of the outbreak in Wuhan. Last February, they published work concluding that the new virus's genetic makeup was about 80 percent similar to the SARS coronavirus, and 96 percent identical at the whole-genome level to a coronavirus found in bats. Shi Zhengli, one of China's leading experts on bat coronaviruses and deputy director of the P4 lab, further raised eyebrows in a June 2020 interview with Scientific American magazine in which she said she was initially anxious over whether the virus had leaked from her lab. Other prominent global publications, including Le Monde and the Wall Street journal, as well as scientists at Harvard and Stanford, have published articles or reports saying the lab theory is one possibility.
CIA assesses lab leak most plausible source of Covid-19, though with low confidence
Toxic: How the search for the origins of COVID-19 turned politically poisonous
Discover Related
Is HCoV-HKU1 a human coronavirus of concern?
Another pandemic? What is HKU5-CoV-2, new Covid-like bat virus found in Wuhan?
Another pandemic? What is HKU5-CoV-2, new Covid-like bat virus found in Wuhan?
New coronavirus with potential to cause pandemic discovered in China
HMPV virus disinformation drives anti-China sentiment, lockdown fears
Virus disinformation drives anti-China sentiment, lockdown fears
Health Talk | Why hMPV shouldn’t be feared like Covid-19
The mystery of why Covid-19 seems to be becoming milder
China reports dip in HMPV infections amid global concern; but tally in India continues to rise
HMPV latest: Chinese health officials give update on virus infection rate
HMPV cases that sparked pandemic fears declining in northern China, officials say