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Coronavirus: scientists again say there’s no evidence for lab leak theory
- Group who earlier condemned ‘conspiracy theories’ calls for more investigation into origins of virus
- They say it’s ‘time to turn down the heat of the rhetoric and turn up the light of scientific inquiry’ in Lancet letter
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Scientists who were among the first to speak out against the theory that the pandemic could have started from a laboratory leak have again disputed the idea and called for more collaboration to investigate the origins of the virus.
In a letter published in The Lancet medical journal on Monday, two dozen prominent international scientists backed a recent call from G7 nations for further inquiry into the origins of the virus that causes Covid-19, and urged the World Health Organization to “expeditiously” continue a study with experts in China and the Chinese government.
“It is time to turn down the heat of the rhetoric and turn up the light of scientific inquiry,” said the scientists, who were also among signatories of a February 2020 letter in the same journal “condemning conspiracy theories suggesting that Covid-19 does not have a natural origin”.
Such theories – particularly that the virus could have leaked from a Chinese laboratory – have gained traction in recent months and a growing chorus of scientists, as well as the US government, are now calling for a deeper examination of the possibility.
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Nature or lab leak? Why tracing the origin of Covid-19 matters
Nature or lab leak? Why tracing the origin of Covid-19 matters
Critics say the lab leak theory was dismissed too quickly, including in the earlier Lancet letter published less than two months after the world became aware of the first Covid-19 cases in China.
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