US Congressional Committee Endorses Lab Leak Theory
The committee, under Republican control in the US, holds the view that COVID-19 may have stemmed from a laboratory or a related research incident.
On February 3, 2021, the WHO delegation conducted a visit to Wuhan, located in Hubei province, where they observed the P4 facility at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. On March 20, 2023, President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill that instructs the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to declassify intelligence concerning China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, referencing “potential links” between its research and the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 pandemic. (AP/Ng Han Guan, File)
On February 3, 2021, a delegation from the World Health Organisation visited the P4 facility at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Hubei province. AP/Ng Han Guan
Investigation Findings and Committee’s Approach
A committee in the US Congress endorses the lab leak theory regarding the COVID-19 outbreak.
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, which is under Republican control, stated on Monday that the coronavirus “likely emerged because of a laboratory or research-related accident.”
Over the course of two years, the 520-page study analysed the responses from both federal and state levels to the epidemic, its origins, and the efforts made towards vaccination.
Brad Wenstrup, the Republican chairman of the panel, informed Congress that this initiative will help the US and the world anticipate, prepare for, protect against, and ideally prevent the next pandemic.
The Role of the Wuhan Institute of Virology
Prior to the epidemic, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded contentious “gain-of-function” research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China to explore methods for combating viruses.
On Wednesday, February 3, 2021, a security officer escorted media personnel away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a WHO delegation arrived for a field tour. Investigators from the WHO visited disease control centres in two provinces to explore the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
On February 3, 2021, a security officer escorted media personnel away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a WHO delegation arrived for a field visit. Image credit: Ng Han Guan/AP
Wuhan, located in central China’s Hubei province, was the initial city to report COVID-19 cases in December 2019.
Conflicting Theories: Lab Leak vs. Animal Transmission
The epidemic resulted in the loss of over 7 million lives and significantly impacted the global economy, as nations closed their borders and enforced lockdown measures.
Even with the attempts of US federal agencies, the WHO, and global experts, the origins of COVID-19 are still unclear.
Many researchers suggest that the virus might have been transmitted from animals to humans at a wet market in Wuhan.
Previous Assessments and FBI’s Position
Last year, the US Department of Energy conducted an intelligence assessment indicating that the virus probably escaped from a lab, albeit with “low confidence.”
The FBI has also indicated a “moderate confidence” that the virus spread due to a laboratory error in 2021.
Following 25 meetings spanning two years, the committee conducted more than 30 transcribed interviews and reviewed over a million pages of records, ultimately accepting the lab leak scenario.
On January 21, 2020, the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was closed. Almost two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the source of the virus is still unclear. Certain scientists suggest that it began at the market.
The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, Hubei, was closed on January 21, 2020.
Fauci’s Testimony and Congressional Scrutiny
A congressional panel, led by Republicans, conducted a two-day interview with Anthony Fauci, the government scientist who was at the forefront of public health messaging during the initial stages of the pandemic and later became the focus of conspiracy theories regarding the origins of the virus.
Republicans have held Fauci accountable, who stepped down in December 2022 after 54 years with the NIH, for instigating the deadliest epidemic in a century by funding Chinese scientists whom they believe were responsible for creating SARS-CoV-2.
In his initial term, Fauci faced off against US President-elect Donald Trump and was alleged to have hidden the theory that COVID-19 originated from a breach at a Chinese laboratory.
During a public hearing in June, the 83-year-old immunologist, currently living under security due to death threats against his family, informed the panel that the bat viruses from the Wuhan lab could not have evolved into the pandemic virus.
“I’ve consistently stated that I do not view the idea of a lab [leak] as a conspiracy theory,” Fauci added.
The investigation concluded that lockdowns “did more harm than good” and that mask restrictions were “ineffective at controlling the spread of Covid-19,” even though evidence indicates that public masking can reduce transmission rates.
Despite the criticism of social distancing measures, the panel concluded that travel restrictions were effective in saving lives.
Long-Term Consequences of the Pandemic
The panel described Trump’s publicly financed COVID vaccination initiative, Operation Warp Speed, as a “tremendous success,” while noting that school closures will have a “enduring impact” on young people in the US.
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