Some scientists question WHO inquiry into virus’s origins

A small group of scientists and others who believe the novel coronavirus that spawned the pandemic could have originated from a lab leak or accident is calling for an inquiry independent of the World Health Organization’s team of independent experts sent to China last month.

Though many scientists involved in researching the origins of the virus continue to assert that the SARS-COV-2 pandemic almost certainly began in a leap from bats to an intermediate animal to humans, other theories persist and have gained new visibility with the Who-led team of experts’ visit to China. Officials with the WHO have said in recent interviews that it was “extremely unlikely” but not impossible that the spread of the virus was linked to some lab accident.

The open letter, first reported in The Wall Street Journal and the French publication Le Monde, lists what the signers see as flaws in the joint Who-china inquiry and state

that it could not adequately address the possibility that the virus leaked from a lab. The letter further posits the type of investigation that would be adequate, including full access to records within China.