It has been more than a year and a half since the first cases of Covid-19 were detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan. How the virus first appeared and how it managed to spread is a mystery to this day.
However, many scientists around the world say that it is almost impossible for Covid-19 to result from a laboratory accident. Santé Sur Le Net takes stock.
Covid 19 and laboratory accident
It was in Wuhan that the Coronavirus first appeared and since the start of the pandemic, many suspect a laboratory leak, accidental or otherwise.
Supporters of this theory point out the presence of a large biological research center in the city of Wuhan which has been studying coronaviruses in bats for more than a decade. The institute in question is a 40-minute drive from the Huanan Seafood Market, where the first cases of Coronavirus appeared.
Those who support the idea that the virus could have leaked from the lab say this idea is plausible because the virus could easily have spread to the famous seafood market.
Supported by supporters of former US President Donald Trump, some media have also called for more examination of this possibility.
Covid 19 and laboratory accident: a theory taken seriously
If the investigation by the World Health Organization (WHO) could not show a possible link between the Covid 19 pandemic and a possible laboratory leak, US President Joe Biden nonetheless ordered a reconsideration of this possibility. It is following the open letter signed by a committee of eighteen scientists and virology experts last May that this theory has been called into question.
However, the investigation ordered by President Biden on August 24 did not yield any possible conclusions regarding a possible laboratory leak.
Laboratory accident: how did the first case of Covid 19 appear?
According to many sources, the new coronavirus which is at the origin of the current pandemic would be a genetic mutation of the old coronavirus linked to bats which was studied at the Wuhan laboratory. One or more employees were reportedly infected by accident and then spread the virus to the rest of the city.
However, China’s senior health authorities say that from the start of the pandemic, all staff and students in this laboratory had tested negative for SARS-CoV-2. According to these same authorities, the thesis of a possible laboratory leak remains impossible.
Where are we ?
Scientists are categorical: this conspiratorial theory must end. This will only be possible if the Wuhan laboratory shares more details regarding the first cases of Covid-19 detected and their possible link to the bat Coronavirus sequences. Because the genetic specificities of the coronavirus present in bats were formerly available were deleted in September 2019. This would be due to a hack of the laboratory’s website.
Information regarding sales that took place in Wuhan markets could also help. If researchers could trace who raised the live animals sold there and who delivered them to markets, those people could be interviewed and possibly sampled for evidence of past infections.
In the meantime, to avoid another pandemic, the WHO has reconstituted a new group of scientists who will conduct an investigation into the origins of the new pathogens.
Yasmine B., scientific editor
Sources
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