Since the
outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in China’s Wuhan in December 2019, Sars-CoV-2
has infected over 212 million people and claimed more than 4.4 million lives across
the world. And in order to prevent another pandemic of such proportions,
experts have long been trying to ascertain the origins of this one.  

However,
with China continuing to provide little information on the origins, the
scientific community remains divided on one of two possible ways the pandemic started
– it resulted either because of natural viral spillovers from bats to other
animals and then into humans or it emerged because of a lab leak from the Wuhan
Institute of Virology. If the latter is true, it raises another question – was the
virus enhanced so as to make it deadlier.

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This vital
question in solving the pandemic’s mystery is set to be answered in a report this
week prepared by the security staff of US President Joe Biden. The team was
given 90 days in May to review the virus’ origins, after a number of American
scientists said they were unsure of the source, according to a report in The
Guardian.

However, it
is unlikely the report will provide hard answers, given that the team is
unlikely to have unearthed a lot of new information about the virus.

The theory
about the lab leaks – supported by former president Donald Trump and outright
rejected by China – was given little credence until May 18, when a group of 18
scientists wrote a letter to the journal ‘Science’ claiming that both theories were
equally possible. They also said that the recent World Health Organization (WHO)
investigation in Wuhan was not impartially considering both scenarios.

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One of the key
evidences to support the Wuhan lab leak theory is the fact that scientists have
so far failed to identify the intermediate animal that passed on the coronavirus
from bats to humans. Also, the institute in Wuhan is where virologist Shi
Zhengli – who traced the origins of the previous coronavirus Sars epidemic to
bats – is based out of.

Zhengli’s
team is known for collecting coronaviruses, thus making the lab one of the
world’s leading coronavirus research centres. That, added with the fact that
Wuhan is the city where the pandemic emerge, makes for one big coincidence that
conspiracy theorists find too big to accept.

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But there
are facts that suggest the lab might not be the source of the virus. Zhengli
had previously refuted claims that she had been working on a new strain of more
infectious virus, or that she or her staff were infected with the coronavirus –
something supported by fellow scientists in the journal ‘Cell’.

“Despite
extensive contact tracing of early cases during the Covid-19 pandemic, there
have been no reported cases related to any laboratory staff at the WIV [Wuhan
Institute of Virology] and all staff in the laboratory of Dr Shi Zhengli were
said to be seronegative for Sars-CoV-2 when tested in March 2020,” The Guardian quoted the journal as saying.

The notion
of the virus being genetically mutated to target humans has also been dismissed,
specifically by Glasgow University’s Professor David Robertson, who calls it a “generalist
or promiscuous virus”.

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However, other
scientists express differing opinions, like Sir Jeremy Farrar, head of the
Wellcome Trust, whose initially reaction was that the virus could have escaped
from a research centre, although he has changed his mind recently.

“As things
currently stand, the evidence strongly suggests that Covid-19 arose after a
natural spillover event, but nobody is yet in a position to rule out an
alternative,” he said.

Professor
James Wood of the Cambridge University backs this point, saying, “I think there
is very strong evidence for this being caused by natural spillovers but that
argument simply does not suit some political groups.”

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He says
that the lab leak theory deflects the world’s attention from “increasing
evidence” that pandemics are connected with biodiversity loss, deforestation,
and wildlife trade, as they increase the risks of natural spillovers.

With human
activities continuing to trample wildlife and vegetation, the unknown viruses
and bacteria they host will be set free and will seek new hosts. This caused the
HIV, Sars and probably COVID-19 pandemic, which many scientists believe is what
the world shoud focus on.