Coronavirus pandemic: Politicians not ruling out Wuhan lab origins even as studies suggest the virus is natural
Even as studies have put the theory on the lab origins of the new coronavirus to rest, some UK ministers are not discounting it yet, according to sources.
According to sources, UK ministers fear that the virus may have leaked out of a lab in Wuhan and they are no longer writing it off. A member of the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (Cobra), an emergency committee meeting led by Boris Johnson, said that though members did not question the natural origins of the virus, they did not rule out the possibility of it being lab-constructed.
"There is a credible alternative view [to the zoonotic theory] based on the nature of the virus. Perhaps it is no coincidence that there is that laboratory in Wuhan. It is not discounted," The Daily Mail quoted the Cobra member as saying.
The theory on lab origins began circulating early during the outbreak. Some believed the virus may have accidentally escaped out of a lab from Wuhan Institute of Virology, located 10 miles from the infamous Huanan wildlife market.
Many scientists have since dispelled them, calling them rumors and bringing out studies to support the virus's natural origins. They put out a statement on The Lancet: “The rapid, open, and transparent sharing of data on this outbreak are now being threatened by rumors and misinformation around its origins. We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin."
Are politicians fueling misinformation?
For quite some time now, politicians are holding on to unfounded rumors. Recently, Chinese and US politicians were locked in a battle, accusing each other of leaking the virus into the world.
A Chinese politician, Zhao Lijian, hit out at the US by tweeting: "When did patient zero begin in the US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be the US army that brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! The US owes us an explanation!" Zhao wrote.
This was in response to the US National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien's statements. He had said that China's initial cover-up worsened the scale of the outbreak. "This virus did not originate in the United States, it originated in Wuhan," in response to claims from Chinese officials and media.
What does the evidence say?
One study raised the question as to whether the new coronavirus originated in the Wuhan lab. However, there is no evidence to support the claims.
But scientists have released evidence to support that the virus did indeed jump from animals to humans before spreading far and wide. This is after closely inspecting the genetic material or RNA of the new coronavirus and comparing them with other viruses.
In late February, scientists said the genetic material of the new coronavirus closely resembled the ones found naturally in bats. In the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists wrote: Of course, scientists tell us that SARS-CoV-2 did not escape from a jar: RNA sequences closely resemble those of viruses that silently circulate in bats, and epidemiologic information implicates a bat-origin virus infecting unidentified animal species sold in China’s live-animal markets.”
Later, another study also made the case for the virus's natural origins. In it, the scientists argue the new coronavirus had features that are too sophisticated for humans to fabricate in labs. For instance, the outer surface of the virus is decorated with spikes, which help the virus attach to and enter human cells. These spikes make the virus special, helping it efficiently infect people in large numbers. Humans could not have created something this efficient, they argue.
Besides, the structure of the new coronavirus resembles the ones found in bats and pangolins, indicating they may have evolved from them. "If someone were seeking to engineer a new coronavirus as a pathogen, they would have constructed it from the backbone of a virus known to cause illness," according to a statement from Scripps.
The authors wrote: "Amid the global COVID-19 public-health emergency, it is reasonable to wonder why the origins of the pandemic matter. Detailed understanding of how an animal virus jumped species boundaries to infect humans so productively will help in the prevention of future zoonotic events."