THE UNITED STATES THEORY
Long dismissed by most experts, considered highly unlikely if not far-fetched, the idea that the COVID-19 pandemic originated in a Chinese laboratory accident has taken hold again in recent weeks in the United States. “The list of people who support the thesis of an animal origin has not moved. And the list of people who suggest that [el virus] could have come out of a laboratory continued to grow “, he summarized Scott Gottlieb, respected former head of the United States Agency for Medicines (FDA) to CNBC.
“A year ago ‘supporting the animal hypothesis’ made perfect sense because it was the most likely scenario,” he explained. But what is called “The intermediate host”, that is, the animal from which the virus was transmitted to humans, has yet to be discovered. “And not because he didn’t ask for it”he added.
“The question, for many people, is,When the coincidences are too many? “he noted, indicating a growing body of” circumstantial evidence. “
November 2019
On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal claimed to have had access to unpublished US intelligence information, reporting that three researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology – the city in China where the new coronavirus was first reported – had already suffered. in November 2019 “symptoms compatible with both those of covid-19 and a seasonal infection”, and that they would have required to be hospitalized.
China disclosed the existence of an outbreak of pneumonia cases in Wuhan in late December, the following month, to the World Health Organization (WHO). Beijing has denied the Wall Street Journal information, calling it “totally false.”
“You have to get to the bottom, whatever the answer, and it’s a priority for us,” said Andy Slavitt, White House adviser for the fight against covid-19. “We need a completely transparent process from China and the WHO to help with this,” he insisted.
Determining how the virus that has claimed more than 3.4 million lives worldwide was transmitted to humans is seen as crucial in trying to prevent the next pandemic. In the United States, the hypothesis of a leak of the virus from the Chinese laboratory until now had been driven mainly by the administration of Donald Trump.
“Now everyone recognizes that I was right when I declared Wuhan from the beginning as the source of covid-19,” the former US president said victoriously in a statement on Monday. “It was obvious to me from the beginning,” he added.
However, many experts remain cautious. “Many of us think that it is more likely to be a natural event (…) but we don’t have a 100% answer to this question“said Tuesday Anthony Fauci, eminent immunologist and adviser to the White House.
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