There are really two stories significant stories here both of which come from an interview which Peter Ben Embarek gave to Danish documentary makers. Embarek is the person who led the WHO investigation into the origin of the coronavirus, including a visit to Wuhan. He had some interesting things to say about the lab leak theory. The first bit of news is that the Chinese scientists involved in the investigation did their best not to have the theory mentioned at all in the final report.
“In the beginning, they didn’t want anything about the lab [in the report], because it was impossible, so there was no need to waste time on that,” Ben Embarek said during the interview. “We insisted on including it, because it was part of the whole issue about where the virus originated.”
A discussion of whether to include the lab-leak theory at all lasted until 48 hours before the conclusion of the mission, Ben Embarek told the Danish reporters. In the end, Ben Embarek’s Chinese counterpart eventually agreed to discuss the lab-leak theory in the report “on the condition we didn’t recommend any specific studies to further that hypothesis.”