COVID-19 origin: WHO investigation head's explosive comments bring focus back to Wuhan lab leak theory

According to the head of the World Health Organization's inquiry into the origins of COVID-19, a Chinese scientist could be the likely point of origination of the pandemic after contracting coronavirus while collecting bat samples.

Dr Peter Embarek reveals that it was a "probable possibility" that a lab staff could have picked up the virus while working in the field, in a Danish TV network TV2 documentary aired this week. He called the Wuhan Lab leak theory a "likely hypothesis."

Scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology were believed to be experimenting on bat coronavirus in local labs. However, China has been reluctant to share information about their research.

To avoid further disagreements with China, WHO investigators were forced to declare that a lab leak was "extremely unlikely" in their official report, according to Embarek.

The team reportedly struck an "impasse" with China. He alleges that Beijing would only accept the possibility of a lab leak scenario being included in the report if no further investigation was recommended.

A scornful reluctance to accept the roots of the virus

The WHO scientist expressed concern about a second lab that had relocated to a location less than a third of a mile from the wet market where the outbreak started.

According to him, the new lab's handling of coronavirus was concerning because it lacked the same level of knowledge or safety.”

He reportedly explained “when you move a lab it disturbs all the procedures. You’ve to move the virus collection and the samples. That's why that period of time and that lab are interesting."

Existence of the idea of lab leak

Experts in the UK stated it was “plausible” that a lab worker transported the virus back to Wuhan. It would also make sense based on genetic evidence that it hopped from an animal.

Laboratory leaks and wild infection are proven by genetic investigations

Professor David Robertson, head of viral genomics and bioinformatics at the University of Glasgow, stated, "There are many possible ways the virus was transmitted to humans, .... Peter(Dr. Embarek) was just referring to something that was possible. As we've no evidence for this, or any link to a lab leak, it remains just speculation".

Current genetic investigations, according to a professor at the University of Cambridge, support both a leak scenario and a wild infection.