The Covid-19 pandemic “was most likely the result of a research-related incident” in China, and not natural transmission of a virus from animal to human, a new report by Republicans on the Senate health committee concludes
failed to solve the question, saying only that the virus didn’t show signs of deliberate genetic engineering. Discerning its origins requires greater cooperation from Beijing, that report said.
The interim Senate staff report was released by Sen. Richard Burr the panel’s ranking Republican, who said it should guide the work of the World Health Organization and other bodies still investigating the virus’ origins. Mr. Burr felt that enough compelling, open source information has been gathered by staff to merit an interim report, a senior committee aide said.
The lab leak theory proposes that SARS-COV-2 was being studied or manipulated in one of several labs in Wuhan that conducted coronavirus research, and escaped via an infected worker.that, according to U.S. intelligence reporting, in November 2019 three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick enough to require hospital treatment, fueling calls for increased examination of the lab-leak theory.