New York Times reporter deletes Twitter account after tweeting that COVID lab-leak theory has 'racist roots'

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The New York Times reporter who went viral for claiming that the coronavirus lab-leak theory has "racist roots" has deleted her own Twitter account. 

Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and health reporter who spent much of the past year covering the pandemic, tweeted on Wednesday, "Someday we will stop talking about the lab leak theory and maybe even admit its racist roots. But alas, that day is not yet here." 

"A theory can have racist roots and still gather reasonable supporters along the way," Mandavilli responded to a critic. "Doesn't make the roots any less racist or the theory any more convincing, though."

She later issued an apology, writing "I deleted my earlier tweets about the origins of the pandemic because they were badly phrased. The origin of the pandemic is an important line of reporting that my colleagues are covering aggressively."

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