What is Wuhan Lab leak theory, all you need to know

The origin of the COVID-19 virus has been hotly contested, with the WHO also sending an international team on a field visit to Wuhan, China in January 2021.

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New Delhi: SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has affected human health globally and had brought everyone to a standstill for months. It has infected a large number of people and has taken over a million lives. 

Around a year and a half since its outbreak, the world is still trying to figure out where the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, came from. 

There are theories that claim that the virus spilt over from bats into humans and then there are hypotheses that state it emerged from a lab in China's Wuhan, where the COVID-19 was first reported in 2019.

The fact that the pandemic began in the vicinity of a main virus research centre that specialises in the study of coronaviruses with epidemic potential in humans 'the Wuhan Institute of Virology' has given rise to the 'lab leak theory'. It also gained wider traction after an article in the journal Science signed by 18 scientists called for the origins of SARS-CoV-2 to be examined.

Recently, top US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci has also fuelled the argument and has asked China to release the medical records of nine people whose ailments might provide vital clues into whether COVID-19 first emerged as the result of a lab leak.

"I would like to see the medical records of the three people who are reported to have got sick in 2019. Did they really get sick, and if so, what did they get sick with?" Fauci said. 

On the other hand, Chinese scientists and officials have consistently rejected the lab leak hypothesis, saying the virus could have been circulating in other regions before it hit Wuhan and might have even entered China through imported frozen food shipments or wildlife trading.

The origin of the COVID-19 virus has been hotly contested, with the World Health Organization (WHO) sending an international team on a field visit to Wuhan from January 14 - February 10 2021. 

In its report published on March 30 2021, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for further studies.

"As far as WHO is concerned, all hypotheses remain on the table. This report is a very important beginning, but it is not the end. We have not yet found the source of the virus, and we must continue to follow the science and leave no stone unturned as we do," said Tedros. 

"Finding the origin of a virus takes time and we owe it to the world to find the source so we can collectively take steps to reduce the risk of this happening again. No single research trip can provide all the answers," he added. 

The WHO report is available on this webpage: Origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus

Earlier in May, US President Joe Biden had also asked the US intelligence community to 'redouble their efforts' to come to a conclusion on the origins of COVID-19 and report back to him within three months.

"I have now asked the Intelligence Community to redouble their efforts to collect and analyze information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion, and to report back to me in 90 days," Biden said in a statement on the investigation into the origins of the virus.

"As part of that report, I have asked for areas of further inquiry that may be required, including specific questions for China," Biden said. He added that the US will keep working with like-minded partners around the world to press China to participate in a full, transparent, evidence-based international investigation and to provide access to all relevant data and evidence.

As of June 4, there have been 17,17,82,908 confirmed COVID-19 cases globally, including 36,98,621 deaths.

(With inputs from agencies)