SCIENTIST LINKED TO WUHAN QUITS COVID-19 INQUIRY

A scientist has quit from an investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic amid concern over his links to a Wuhan laboratory tied to the “lab leak” theory.

Dr. Peter Daszak, president of the U.s.-based Ecohealth Alliance, has “recused himself” from the inquiry by medical journal The Lancet after he failed to declare ties to the Wuhan Laboratory of Virology, which was conducting research into coronavirus in bats.

Daszak was also a member of the WHO investigation into the source of the pandemic that issued its report earlier this year. The commission's website states Daszak has “recused himself from Commission work on the origins of the pandemic” but gives no further information.

In February 2020 Daszak co-authored a letter published in The Lancet with 26 other experts “in support of scientists, public health professionals and medical professionals combating COVID-19 in China.”

The letter stated: “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.”