The Republicans in the US Senate have recently released a report on how the COVID-19 virus could have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). The report also underscores that the findings still lack indisputable evidence.
In an interim report, titled ‘An Analysis of the Origins of the COVID-19 Pandemic,’ the US Senate Republicans investigated the origin of the COVID virus and explained how it could have started from a laboratory leak.
However, many scientists are still in favour of the conclusion in a Science Magazine paper published in August that the virus transmitted from animal to human in the crowded wet markets in Wuhan, China.
Richard Burr, a member of the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, said that he hopes the report will guide the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international institutions and researchers.
“The lack of transparency and collaboration from government and public health officials in the People’s Republic of China with respect to the origins of SARS-CoV-2 prevents reaching a more definitive conclusion,” added Burr.
According to the report, “Nearly three years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, substantial evidence demonstrating that the COVID-19 pandemic was the result of a research-related incident has emerged.”
The report also reveals that a research-related incident is consistent with the early epidemiology showing the rapid spread of the virus in Wuhan, with the earliest calls for assistance being located near the WIV’s original campus in central Wuhan.
The publicly available report reveals that “it appears reasonable to conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident.” It further added that new information, made publicly available and independently verifiable, could change this assessment.
However, the report also shows that the hypothesis of a natural zoonotic origin no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt or the presumption of accuracy.
The report also highlighted that although the WIV’s coronavirus research is best documented because it collaborated with Western scientists, multiple institutions in Wuhan study coronaviruses including - Wuhan University, Huazhong Agricultural University, Hubei Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hubei Animal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wuhan Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, a vaccine manufacturing subsidiary of state-owned Sinopharm.
According to the report, tens of millions have died from the COVID-19 virus worldwide. In addition to the tragic loss of life, over the past three years, we have experienced the social, educational, and economic costs of a global pandemic.
Burr said, “With COVID-19 still in our midst, it is critical that we continue international efforts to uncover additional information regarding the origins of this deadly virus. I hope this report will guide the World Health Organization and other international institutions and researchers as they proceed with planned work to continue investigating the origins of this virus. Uncovering the answers to this critical question is imperative to our national and international ability to ensure that a pandemic of this size and scope does not happen again.”