Having emerged in Wuhan, China in late 2019, Covid-19 has proven to be extremely deadly and has had a profound impact globally on us all. While it hasn’t ever been confirmed, could the virus have emerged from research labs in Wuhan?
The common explanation for Covid-19 is that a coronavirus mutated by transmitting between both humans and animals. The most suspected animals being pangolins and bats, frequently found in Chinese wet markets.
During the early days of the pandemic, many people theorised that Covid-19 could have originally come from research labs situated in Wuhan. Despite these suggestions, researchers and officials dismissed these as conspiracy theories.
While previously dismissive of these this theory, Wellcome Trust director Jeremey Farrar has changed his position as of late suggesting that “you cannot exclude the possibility of a lab accident”.
Farrar is not the only person still considering that the virus could have spread from laboratory accidents. The World Health Organisation has recently attempted to investigate labs in Wuhan, and Chinese officials have resisted this intervention.
The White House has also been critical of China’s attempts to prevent this investigation stating that “it’s not a time to be stonewalling”. Chinese officials, however, remain adamant that a probe is pointless and a waste of time and resources.
You could definitely see why people are beginning to reconsider the situation. With China blocking an investigation, it seems to imply that perhaps there is something to hide.
If there were truly nothing to hide, we would expect easy cooperation between officials.
To further support the return of these theories, a recent investigation into Covid-19 suggests that the virus contains elements not common with other Coronaviruses.
The research conducted by Dr Quay and Richard Muller concludes that “the scientific evidence points to the conclusion that the virus was developed in a laboratory”.
Should these claims in fact prove to be true, there may be huge ramifications for China. The ethical issues of engineering such a devastating virus alone are hard to comprehend.
Hopefully, China reconsiders their stance as full transparency on this situation will make it far easier for researchers to understand the ongoing pandemic, and allow confirmation as to whether or not the virus naturally occurred.
While it is yet still far more widely accepted that Covid-19 emerged by the spread between animal and human, it remains interesting to see how this investigation into the virus will conclude.
With no significant evidence that laboratories in Wuhan did in fact create the virus, these suggestions will remain unconfirmed for the time being.