Where did COVID come from? Lab leak vs natural spillover
Years on, the origin of SARS-CoV-2 is still contested: most scientists favour a natural jump from animals at a Wuhan market, while others — and some US agencies — suspect a leak from a Wuhan lab.
The summary above is a neutral framing. Below, each side reports the same story in its own words — judge for yourself.
Most researchers and a WHO panel lean toward zoonosis — a spillover at a Wuhan seafood market — citing genomic, geographic and environmental sampling, while lamenting that key evidence was withheld.
Lab-leak proponents note the outbreak began beside the Wuhan Institute of Virology, far from the relevant bat populations, raise biosafety concerns, and point to the FBI and US Department of Energy backing a leak.
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