Lab-Leak Suspicions Swirl Around Covid Origins

Experts say speculation based on circumstantial evidence should not distract us from fighting coronavirus, though Wuhan lab-leak theory gains momentum

- Nirad Mudur

Is SARS-CoV-2 of natural origin or is it engineered? This is the question haunting not just scientists but people around the world that has fuelled conspiracy theories.

Lately, the hypothesis that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, had leaked from the lab of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), in Wuhan, the capital of Central China’s Hubei province, is gaining ground, albeit without credible scientific evidence to show. However, speculation and theories continue.

The original one was that China was in the midst of producing bioweapons to target enemy populations, and this gained ground — at least in the minds of people — considering that the USA and India are number 1 and 2 countries that are most affected by the pandemic. And both the countries are prominent members of the Quad, along with Australia and Japan. China has been vehemently criticising this as a military alliance aimed at containing its maritime influence in the Asian region.

A counter-charge has also been fired by China at the USA last year saying that, in 2003, the latter had engineered the original SARS virus to target China.

However, one theory that is not so much a conspiracy theory, is that of an unintentional leak after the virus was engineered as part of ‘gain-of-function (GoF) research to further understand drug targets for more virulent viruses, in this case SARS-CoV-2. GoF research involves intentionally altering microbes to increase pathogenesis and transmissibility and identify types of hosts that bacteria/virus can infect. This aims at improved predictions of emerging infectious diseases and developing vaccines and therapeutics.