Scientists want to investigate the origin of the coronavirus

Scientists in some countries are calling for serious investigation into the beginning of SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus that caused the covid-19 pandemic. In an open letter released Thursday, the group states that there are still too many unanswered questions about how the pandemic began, and that the so-called “laborique” theory is as plausible as the theory of natural origin. ..

World Health Organization in early February Announcement Preliminary results of a survey on the start of the December 2019 pandemic. This included researchers who traveled to some of the first known infected areas in Wuhan, China. The team did not rule out the possibility that the virus had reached the population through its release from a nearby virological laboratory, but they called it “very unlikely.” The most likely explanation was that the virus jumped from an animal (probably a bat) to a human, perhaps through an intermediate host such as the scale armor.

Even at that time, WHO’s conclusions could not be universally accepted. Some polls A significant number of people continue to believe that the virus was deliberately created as a biological weapon and released into the wild. Yet others, including the former chief of the CDC —Robert Redfield— Instead, think of the virus as simply leaking out of the lab without malicious intent. According to this theory, the leaked virus may have been previously manipulated in the lab, but it could also have invaded from the wild and reached people without any changes.

Many scientists have criticized more fantastic versions of these theories, evidence There is nothing inherently suspicious about the genetics of SARS-CoV-2 that suggests it was created as a biological weapon. They also point out that the virus routinely jumps from one species to another, so it’s entirely possible that the pandemic began as one of these zoonotic events. Is plausible.

The author of this new letter Release In science, don’t dispute these points. But they say it’s not without further evidence and it’s too early to close the door to Labreak theory. “Theories of both accidental release from the laboratory and the spillover effect of zoonotic diseases remain viable,” the author writes.

Their main point is that they haven’t done enough work to call Labreak theory really unlikely. As evidence, they cite WHO Executive Director Tedros Ghebreyesus himself.In him Closing remarks After the final announcement of the WHO team’s findings in late March, Ghebreyesus said the investigation into the possibility of an accident in the laboratory was not extensive enough, “more data to reach a more solid conclusion. Investigation is needed. ” We are ready to deploy more resources towards.

The permanent suspicion of a pandemic-driving laboratory leak is not entirely about science, but about the politics of the country in which it emerged. China is famous for censoring unpleasant information about the government, often enough to silence its people.Regardless of its true origin, China Restriction information About a pandemic from doctors and scientists trying to warn the world about the potential threat of covid-19.And the country Be imposed Restrictions on WHO investigators dispatched to Wuhan.

The author is from universities and research institutes in the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cambridge University. And they say that only a truly impartial investigation will be able to get rid of the air about what covid-19 has become. UNeither theory of viruses should be unruly rejected until that is possible.

“Until we have enough data, we must take the hypothesis about both natural and laboratory spillovers seriously,” they write. “Appropriate investigations are transparent, objective, data-driven, include extensive expertise, are subject to independent monitoring, and are managed responsibly to minimize the impact of conflicts of interest. is needed.”