Covid-19 originated naturally and not in lab, virologists conclude
The Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, China, ‘an early and major epicentre of Sars-CoV-2 infection’. Photograph: Getty Images
Covid-19 emerged naturally and is not is the product of an accidental leak from a Chinese laboratory, according to a team of internationally-regarded virologists, following a review of all available evidence.
The finding – the second in a less than a week to declare the virus a natural phenomenon – dismisses the possibility that the virus escaped from a Wuhan laboratory in China, where Sars-CoV-2 was first detected.
The 23 scientists – including Prof Edward Holmes, who first shared the Sars-CoV-2 genetic map known as a genome with Chinese colleagues in January 2020; Wellcome Trust director Sir Jeremy Farrar and leading US virologist Dr Angela Rasmussen – assessed the evidence including genetic indications.
“There is currently no evidence that Sars-CoV-2 has a laboratory origin . . . There is a substantial body of scientific evidence supporting a zoonotic [animal-to-human] origin for Sars-CoV-2,” they conclude.
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