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More scientists say coronavirus most likely came from animals, not lab leak
- International experts post paper online saying their analysis of available data ‘provided no evidence’ that virus escaped from a laboratory
- They say early cases had clear links to animal markets in Wuhan and zoonotic origin needs investigation so world is not ‘vulnerable to future pandemics’
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A group of prominent international scientists say that after reviewing the evidence they believe the coronavirus most likely came from animals rather than a laboratory leak.
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In a paper posted online without review, they said there was substantial evidence supporting a zoonotic origin for the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus, while no current evidence had shown that it escaped from a lab.
Failing to investigate the zoonotic origin “would leave the world vulnerable to future pandemics arising from the same human activities that have repeatedly put us on a collision course with novel viruses”, they said, referring to the wildlife trade.
The 21 scientists from Australia, Austria, Britain, Canada, China, New Zealand and the United States posted the paper on the Zenodo research repository on Wednesday.
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Global Covid-19 death toll hits 4 million as WHO says vaccines ‘surest way to prevent more deaths’
Global Covid-19 death toll hits 4 million as WHO says vaccines ‘surest way to prevent more deaths’
The World Health Organization has repeatedly said that finding the origins of the virus that causes Covid-19 – which has now killed more than 4 million people globally – is essential in efforts to reduce the risk of future pandemics.
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