Policymakers said ‘substantial’ evidence pointing to lab accident has emerged
But evidence for a natural spillover ‘is missing’ even after three years of probes
Unwillingness to cooperate means China ‘should no longer get benefit of doubt’
Findings come in an interim report pubished by the Senate Committee on Health
Origins of Covid still shrouded in mystery with no concrete evidence either way
But China has shut down independent probes into lab and silenced scientists
Writing in the report, they conclude: ‘Based on the analysis of the publicly available information, it appears reasonable to conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident.’
They add: ‘Nearly three years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, critical evidence that would prove that the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and resulting COVID-19 pandemic was caused by a natural zoonotic spillover is missing.’
The report accepts there is still crucial missing information about how the pandemic truly came to be — with no direct evidence for either natural or synthetic origin.
But ‘the lack of transparency and collaboration’ from China ‘prevents reaching a more definitive conclusion’, the senate committee adds.
Proponents of the lab leak theory — including former President Donald Trump were initially dismissed as conspiracy theorists or denounced as xenophobes.
www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11362165/Covid-likely-leaked-lab-explosive-Senate-says.html