WHO Expert Team Declines Coronavirus Lab Leak Theory

Nikki Attkisson | Last Updated : February 10, 2021

The theory which suggests that the coronavirus came from a Chinese laboratory is being declined by the expert team of WHO.

The team made their closely watched visit to Wuhan, a city in China where the initial cases of the coronavirus were detected.

The team included both international and Chinese medical experts and scientists on a mission to find out the origins of the deadly pandemic. They think that the alternative theory of leaking the virus from a lab in China is unlikely. 

WHO Expert Team Declines Coronavirus Lab Leak Theory

The span of the visit lasted four weeks and the leader of the mission, Peter Ben Embark, an expert in the WHO in both food and animal disease, made a news conference. 

WHO Expert Team Declines Coronavirus Lab Leak Theory

According to Embarek, Even though the team falsified the theory, their visit didn’t bring any dramatic change in the current level of understanding of the initial outbreak of the coronavirus.

Embarek said that more details are added to the so-called story as the mission allowed the joint team of China and WHO to explore the lab leak theory and come to a conclusion that the theory is baseless. 

The former President Donald Trump and his administration had widely promoted the lab leak theory, though there wasn’t any evidence. The claims on the theory seemed credible then since

The Wuhan Institute of Virology has stored samples of various types of viruses. This led to many allegations that the original outbreak of the coronavirus had occurred through the institute’s lab, whether it was accidental or did it on purpose. 

Embarek said that his team presently considered the possibility of such a leak so improbable and this cannot be taken into account as an avenue of studies that will occur in the future. However, 

Another figure from the team, Thea Koelsen Fischer from Denmark said that the team could not rule out the possibility of further research, investigations as well as new leads.

The possibility of the leak was already strongly opposed by China and brought many other theories regarding the outbreak.

Several ideas have been considered by the Chinese and foreign experts on the spread of the coronavirus in mankind which resulted in the slaughter of 2.3 of the world population.

The initial reports suggested that the virus was more likely transmitted from a bat to other animals, and ended up reaching humans. Embark said that this theory also needs to be subjected to further studies. 

He added that according to the findings, the hypothesis of the laboratory incidents extremely couldn’t explain how the virus was transmitted to the human population.

He emphasized that accidental releases are also the rarest, and also the team’s indications on the operations of Wuhan institute’s lab would be hard for anything to escape from it. 

There were also no reports that appeared before the outbreak regarding the presence of the virus or any samples held by any of the clinics anywhere in China, noted Embark.

The possibilities can be frozen food products as well along with the suggestions regarding animals like a Pangolin or a bamboo rat.


Nikki Attkisson

With over 15 years as a practicing journalist, Nikki Attkisson found herself at Powdersville Post now after working at several other publications. She is an award-winning journalist with an entrepreneurial spirit and worked as a journalist covering technology, innovation, environmental issues, politics, health etc. Nikki Attkisson has also worked on product development, content strategy, and editorial management for numerous media companies. She began her career at local news stations and worked as a reporter in national newspapers.

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