COVID lab-leak theory: 'rare' genetic sequence doesn't mean the virus was engineered

By Keith Grehan, Postdoctoral Researcher, Molecular Biology, University of Leeds
Natalie Kingston, Research Fellow, Virology, University of Leeds

The theory that the COVID-19 pandemic was triggered by the Sars-CoV-2 virus being leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China was recently given new life following an explosive article in the Wall Street Journal(WSJ), in which the authors claimed “the most compelling reason to favour the lab leak hypothesis is firmly based in science”. But does the science really support the claim that the virus was engineered in a laboratory?

Understanding the origin of a viral outbreak…

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