Did COVID Come From Wuhan Lab?

The international team of experts tasked with finding the origins of COVID-19 has ruled out the possibility that the virus escaped (or was released) from the Wuhan lab, the Wuhan Institute of Virology. 

Wuhan, a city in Central China, reported the very first case of COVID-19 in December 2019. Since then, the virus has killed more than 2 million people. 

“Our initial findings suggest that the introduction through an intermediary host species is the most likely pathway and one that will require more studies and more specific, targeted research,” explains Peter Ben Embarek, head of the WHO team. “However, the findings suggest that the laboratory incidents hypothesis is extremely unlikely to explain the introduction of the virus to the human population.”

Embarek added that his team found “no indication” that COVID was present in Wuhan before cases were reported. 

COVID-19 may have been active in other parts of China before it appeared in Wuhan, theorizes Liang Wannian. Wannian is a member of China’s Health Commission. She also suggests it may have arrived there via the transportation of frozen food.

Moving forward, the WHO team will begin investigating the frozen food theory.

They will do so by examining farms and supply routes in China and Southeast Asia. 

Embarek’s team is a group of 10 experts that went to Wuhan this January amid intense international pressure and following months of negotiations with Beijing. China continues to deny the need for an independent investigation. 

Author’s Note: Of course the WHO is saying the virus didn’t come from the lab in Wuhan. The WHO is loyal to Beijing and will do its best to lay the blame elsewhere. On top of that, this so-called team of experts was under 24-hour surveillance by Chinese authorities. So it is unclear how thorough the investigation was. Honestly, it’s surprising that China hasn’t started accusing US servicemen of bringing the virus there.

Sources:

Covid: WHO says ‘extremely unlikely’ virus leaked from lab in China 

WHO says coronavirus unlikely to have leaked from China lab