The COVID-19 lab leak hypothesis proposes that SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 disease, leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, resulting in the pandemic.[1][2] It was amplified by US President Donald Trump, prominent Republicans and conservative media in early 2020, and at the time was widely dismissed as a conspiracy theory with racist motivations.[2] In early 2021, some politicians and journalists reversed course and said the hypothesis warranted serious consideration and investigation.[1] Scientific consensus holds that as with other pandemics in human history, SARS-CoV-2 spilled into the human population naturally via zoonosis, and scientists have largely remained skeptical of the a lab leak origin,[3][4] describing it as a remote possibility and citing a lack of supporting evidence.[5][6] Many scientists have continued to describe the lab leak hypothesis as a "conspiracy theory."[7][8] Some scientists, despite misgivings, agree that more investigation is warranted.[9][10] The persistent promotion of politically motivated speculation despite the lack of plausible scientific evidence has prompted calls for scientifically rigorous and official investigations to continue in partnership with the WHO and China.[11][non-primary source needed]
Early dissemination
The theory was one of the earliest to emerge about the pandemic. According to surveys, early on in the pandemic up to 30% of Americans believed in the hypothesis at various points. It was initially spread in early 2020 by United States politicians and media, particularly US President Donald Trump, prominent Republicans and conservative media (such as Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon). All these groups had a reputation for using conspiracy rhetoric to blame other countries for American problems.[2] In April 2020, Trump claimed to have evidence for the theory, but refused to produce it when requested.[12] At that time, the media did not distinguish between the accidental lab leak of a natural virus and bio-weapon origin conspiracy theories. In online discussions, various theories–including this one–were being combined together to form larger, baseless conspiracy plots.[2]
Resurgence
In early 2021, the hypothesis returned to popular debate by renewed media discussion and circumstantial evidence.[13]
On 27 May 2021, US president Joe Biden ordered US intelligence community to investigate the origins of COVID-19, including this hypothesis, and provide a report within 90 days.[14] Half way into the investigation, it was reported that Biden administration officials considered the lab leak theory "as credible" as the natural origins theory.[15]
In July 2021, a Harvard-Politico survey indicated that 52 percent of Americans believed that COVID-19 originated from a lab leak, while 28 percent believed that COVID-19 originated from an infected animal in nature.[16]
See also
References
- ^ a b Thacker, Paul D. (8 July 2021). "The covid-19 lab leak hypothesis: did the media fall victim to a misinformation campaign?". BMJ. 374: n1656. doi:10.1136/bmj.n1656. ISSN 1756-1833.
- ^ a b c d Knight, Peter. "COVID-19: why lab-leak theory is back despite little new evidence". The Conversation.
- ^ Gorman, James; Zimmer, Carl (14 June 2021). "Scientist Opens Up About His Early Email to Fauci on Virus Origins". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ Graham, Rachel L.; Baric, Ralph S. (19 May 2020). "SARS-CoV-2: Combating Coronavirus Emergence". Immunity. 52 (5): 734–736. doi:10.1016/j.immuni.2020.04.016. ISSN 1074-7613. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ Stanway, Josh Horwitz, David (10 February 2021). "COVID may have taken 'convoluted path' to Wuhan, WHO team leader says". Reuters. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Maxmen, Amy; Mallapaty, Smriti (8 June 2021). "The COVID lab-leak hypothesis: what scientists do and don't know". Nature. pp. 313–315. doi:10.1038/d41586-021-01529-3. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ Frutos, Roger; Gavotte, Laurent; Devaux, Christian A. (March 2021). "Understanding the origin of COVID-19 requires to change the paradigm on zoonotic emergence from the spillover to the circulation model". Infection, Genetics and Evolution: 104812. doi:10.1016/j.meegid.2021.104812.
- ^ Hakim, Mohamad S. (14 February 2021). "SARS‐CoV‐2, Covid‐19, and the debunking of conspiracy theories". Reviews in Medical Virology. doi:10.1002/rmv.2222.
- ^ Zimmer, Carl; Gorman, James; Mueller, Benjamin (27 May 2021). "Scientists Don't Want to Ignore the 'Lab Leak' Theory, Despite No New Evidence". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
- ^ Mallapaty, Smriti (1 April 2021). "After the WHO report: what's next in the search for COVID's origins". Nature News. pp. 337–338. doi:10.1038/d41586-021-00877-4. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ Calisher, Charles H; Carroll, Dennis; Colwell, Rita; Corley, Ronald B; Daszak, Peter; Drosten, Christian; Enjuanes, Luis; Farrar, Jeremy; Field, Hume; Golding, Josie; Gorbalenya, Alexander E; Haagmans, Bart; Hughes, James M; Keusch, Gerald T; Lam, Sai Kit; Lubroth, Juan; Mackenzie, John S; Madoff, Larry; Mazet, Jonna Keener; Perlman, Stanley M; Poon, Leo; Saif, Linda; Subbarao, Kanta; Turner, Michael (5 July 2021). "Science, not speculation, is essential to determine how SARS-CoV-2 reached humans". The Lancet. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01419-7.
- ^ "Trump claims to have evidence coronavirus started in Chinese lab but offers no details". The Guardian. 1 May 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ Knight, Peter. "COVID-19: why lab-leak theory is back despite little new evidence". The Conversation.
- ^ "Covid: Biden orders investigation into virus origin as lab leak theory debated". BBC News. 2021-05-27. Retrieved 2021-07-18.
- ^ Bertrand, Natasha; Brown, Pamela; Williams, Katie Bo; Cohen, Zachary (July 16, 2021). "Senior Biden officials finding that Covid lab leak theory as credible as natural origins explanation". CNN. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
- ^ Mir, Alice; Ollstein, A. "POLITICO-Harvard poll: Most Americans believe Covid leaked from lab". POLITICO. Retrieved 2021-07-19.