Washington Post editorial on COVID-19 swims against scientific consensus: report

NEW YORK, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The Washington Post's recent editorial that hyped up the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was released from China's Wuhan was condemned by scientists as swimming against the current of scientific evidence, according to an international socialist news site.

The World Socialist Web Site reported Sunday that over the past month, scientists have discovered direct means by which animals transferred SARS-CoV-2 to humans through zoonosis, the process that gave rise to every other human pandemic in history.

The most recent study, by Dr. Florence Debarre, an evolutionary biologist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, revealed that samples containing SARS-CoV-2 from the wet market in Wuhan also contained the DNA of susceptible animals, such as raccoon dogs, according to the report.

However, on Saturday, The Washington Post published an editorial promoting the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was released from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, said the report, noting that the "editorial deals with the growing body of scientific evidence refuting its claims by simply ignoring it."

The editorial was vocally blasted by scientists, said the report. "One thing is clear: if indeed 'there's new light' on this topic, it's not coming from the WashPost," it added, citing vaccinologist Peter Hotez. "All reckless speculation that ignores the preponderance of scientific evidence published in major journals."

"The Post's task of swimming against the current of overwhelming scientific consensus has become more difficult as the weight of scientific evidence has accumulated in favor of natural origins," it added.