A panel of scientists affiliated with the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a report that they cannot draw a definite conclusion about COVID-19’s origins.
The panel, consisting of 27 independent scientific experts and established by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that “reports by scientists and governmental agencies have provided opposing views as to the virus’ origins, without clear conclusions, and often without presenting the data underpinning those views.”
Hypotheses assessed by the panel include a zoonotic spillover event, a lab leak, animal markets, and intentional manipulation of the virus in a laboratory followed by a lab leak. The panel concluded that the evidence presented “suggests zoonotic spillover of SARS-CoV-2 into the human population, either directly from bats or through an intermediate host,” although it “cannot conclude with certainty” where or when this may have occurred.
“I thank each of the 27 members of [the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens] SAGO for dedicating their time and expertise to this very important scientific undertaking over more than three years,” the WHO director-general said during a press briefing on the report. “As things stand, all hypotheses must remain on the table, including zoonotic spillover and lab leak. We continue to appeal to China and any other country that has information about the origins of COVID-19 to share that information openly, in the interests of protecting the world from future pandemics.”
The WHO report conflicts with a declassified CIA assessment indicating that a laboratory origin is the most likely explanation for the emergence of COVID-19.
Similarly, the Trump administration changed a Biden-era website to discuss the “true origins” of the COVID-19 virus, listing details pointing to a lab leak as the virus’s origin, including that it “possesses a biological characteristic that is not found in nature.” The website previously contained vaccine information.
“By nearly all measures of science, if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced. But it hasn’t,” the website declares.
