Experts unconvinced by COVID-19 lab-leak theories: media
WASHINGTON, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Many scientists, including top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, still believe that COVID-19 most likely occurred in nature and jumped from animals to humans, according to The Associated Press on Wednesday.
No new key scientific evidence that might make the lab-leak hypothesis more likely has been publicly identified by virus researchers, it added.
The World Health Organization said in March that COVID-19 introduction through a laboratory incident was considered to be an "extremely unlikely" pathway, refuting lab-leak theories.
"The great probability is still that this virus came from a wildlife reservoir," said Arinjay Banerjee, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in Saskatchewan, Canada, according to the report.
Spillover events -- when viruses jump from animals to humans -- are common in nature, and have been seen in previous cases, he said.
Many scientists believe that it's unlikely the 90-day investigation by the intelligence community at the request of U.S. President Joe Biden will yield definitive new answers, the report added.
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