HELSINKI, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) – COVID-19 was born in nature, Finnish national television station Yle reported on Friday, citing the findings of Finnish researchers.
This finding contradicts a recent report by the US news site The Intercept which, citing “documents”, claimed that the current COVID-19 pandemic may have started with a laboratory accident.
However, Yle said Finnish virus researchers she interviewed believed The Intercept report lacked evidence to support this suggestion that the virus had escaped from the Chinese lab.
“The report does not in any way prove that the virus escaped from the laboratory,” said Matti Jalasvuori, an academic researcher in the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences at Finnish University of Jyvaskyla, as quoted by Yle.
“It is much easier to find a virus that is easily transmitted from person to person in nature than to ‘make’ a similar new type of virus in the laboratory,” said Matti Jalasvuori.
He added that the Chinese lab had conducted studies that would provide new knowledge about different viruses in nature and help prepare for future pandemics.
In line with Mr Jalasvuori, Minna Hankaniemi, a postdoctoral researcher specializing in virology at the University of Tampere, said The Intercept report gave no evidence that COVID-19 escaped the Chinese lab.
The lab’s studies were “completely normal” and “important,” she said. End
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