Trump’s claims on origins of Covid-19 branded ‘unhelpful’ by UK scientists

US president insists virus came from infectious disease lab in Wuhan

Donald Trump’s claim that the coronavirus outbreak could have originated in a Chinese laboratory has been labelled “unhelpful” because it risks undermining the public health response to the pandemic.

The US President said on Thursday that he had seen evidence that the virus came from an infectious disease laboratory in Wuhan, and suggested its release was a “mistake”.

But Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at Southampton University, said yesterday: “We have good evidence from the genomics research that the virus is not man-made, and the scientific world has very much moved on from this idea.

“It is unhelpful for high-profile individuals to repeat the debunked conspiracy theories, as it undermines the public health response.”

Brendan Wren, professor of medical microbiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “Having been to Wuhan a number of times and having had infectious disease researchers from Wuhan working in my labs in London, I don’t believe that there have been any deliberate or nefarious activities with the SARS-Cov-2 virus.”

He added that the city of Wuhan has “excellent state-of-the-art infectious disease facilities”.

“It is generally accepted that the virus has mutated naturally and it has been very difficult to contain within the human community,” he said.

Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said the president’s comments “come as no surprise”.

He added: “Though the origin of the virus will be important in a future inquiry, the real need now is for transparency so that we can all learn from each other.

“I hope all countries will share what they know for the safety of their citizens and the whole world.”

Professor David Harper, former chief scientist and director-general for public health at the UK’s Department of Health, said theories around the virus have been circulating since January.

He added: “I think it’s one of those situations where there is plenty of room for speculation and there are probably, undoubtedly, different agendas at play.”

But Prof Harper, now a consultant for the Chatham House thinktank, said: “The weight of scientific opinion at the moment seems to be fairly and squarely on the side of this being a naturally occurring disease.”

The Chinese government has rejected Mr Trump’s claims.

Picture: AP. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed China for the pandemic.