COVID-19 did not originate from China? New study opposes Trump's 'lab-leak theory'

A recent study by the University of Edinburgh has claimed that the COVID-19 did not originated from Wuhan, China. The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell on May 7, involved researchers from 20 institutions across the US, Europe, and Asia. The new study has now challenged the "lab-leak theory" of the US President Donald Trump.

The Edinburgh study explained

A team of researchers analysed around 167 bat coronavirus genomes and traced the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19 to bat populations in northern Laos and southwest China’s Yunnan province. The new findings by the study has now countered the claims by the White House in April this year. US emphasised on its claim that COVID-19 was originated from China by launching a website.

The researchers of the study looked at the genomes of sarbecoviruses – coronaviruses that can cause severe respiratory illness. This included the Sars-CoV-2, which caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump's 'lab-leak theory'

Amid the tariff war with China, Donald Trump brought back the controversial COVID-19 lab-leak theory in the discussion in April. The White House even refreshed an existing website on the virus. Previously, the website was dedicated to information around vaccination and testing of the COVID-19 virus, but now it boldly claims that the virus, which set the entire world on a pause in 2020, was a result of a lab accident primarily from China's Wuhan.

The website primarily criticised the “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2,” a study against the lab-leak theory.

Trump's 'evidence' of ‘lab-leak theory’

Not just claims, the White House even explained five key points to support the claims that the virus was a result of a lab leak.

1. The website claimed that the COVID-19 virus has biological elements that are not typically found in nature.

2. As per data, all the COVID-19 cases can be traced back to a single human introduction, not like previous pandemics, where multiple spillovers took place.

3. The location of the epicentre of the virus outbreak is near the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).

4. Several WIV researchers showed symptoms similar to COVID-19 in late 2019, months before the virus was linked to a wet market in Wuhan.

5. The website further said that if the virus had originated naturally, the evidence supporting the claim would have emerged by now, but they haven't.