Senate Report Says Covid ‘More Likely Than Not’ Came From Lab Leak, After Media’s ‘Conspiracy Theory’ Smear
A newly released U.S. Senate interim report reaffirms suspicions that the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus likely came as a result of a “research-related incident” at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China.
Published by the minority oversight staff of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), the report analyzes the plausibility of two main theories surrounding the origins of Covid-19: that the outbreak of the virus resulted from either a “natural zoonotic spillover” or a “research-related incident.” The investigation was spearheaded by ranking HELP Committee member and North Carolina GOP Sen. Richard Burr, who said in the foreword of the report that the “ultimate goal” of the inquiry “is to provide a clearer picture of what we know, so far, about the origins of SARS-CoV-2 so that we can continue to work together to be better prepared to respond to future public health threats.”
In addressing the natural spillover theory, the document’s authors note that while the idea that Covid came about naturally in animals and spread to humans is a “plausible explanation” for how the pandemic started, it lacks key scientific evidence to suggest that such an event occurred.
“The intermediate host species for SARS-CoV-2, if one exists, remains unidentified,” the report reads. “By comparison, within six months of the first known human case of SARS, public health officials in China found SARS infections in palm civets and raccoon dogs in live animal markets in Guangdong Province.”
Another fact undercutting the theory that the virus naturally occurred, the analysis notes, is that the genomes of “early COVID-19 cases from the first months of the pandemic” lack any genetic evidence that could indicate the virus previously circulated in “animal species other than humans.”
In their analysis of the lab leak theory, the report’s authors document the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s years of coronavirus experimentation leading up to 2020, as well as numerous safety-related failures and events throughout 2019 that raise concerns about the biosecurity of the institution’s research facilities. Moreover, the Senate release highlights the anomalies in epidemiology with respect to Covid-19, such as the fact that the virus spilled over into humans “only in Wuhan” and had “low initial genetic diversity,” which represents “a break with the precedent of recent zoonotic spillovers of respiratory viruses.”
“Based on the analysis of the publicly available information, it appears reasonable to conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident,” the report concludes. “New information, made publicly available and independently verifiable, could change this assessment. However, the hypothesis of a natural zoonotic origin no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt, or the presumption of accuracy.”
The release of the Senate report comes on the heels of a communique released by House Republicans on the Intelligence Committee last year, which highlighted China’s documented history of lab leaks and gain of function research that took place at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. In both reports, investigators noted that efforts by China’s
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