A World Health Organization investigator is weighing in on the agency team’s findings after visiting a lab in Wuhan, China, amid a probe into the origins of COVID-19.
There has been speculation from former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former President Donald Trump that the COVID-19 virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
Pompeo suggested in May of 2020, “I’ve seen evidence that this likely came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
Additionally, the Trump administration supported those claims without evidence.
During a CNN interview, one of the WHO investigators, Peter Daszak, was pressed on if he believes it is possible the virus was engineered and leaked from the Wuhan lab.
“There’s no evidence of that at all,” Daszak responded.
He added that people at the lab brought up, “conspiracies around lab leaks,” and they “feel strongly” that those speculations have “no grounds.”
Watch the interview below:
A team of World Health Organization investigators visited a Wuhan lab that has been the focus of conspiracies and speculation about the origin of the coronavirus pandemic. @David_Culver spoke to one of the investigators about what they’re findinghttps://t.co/O0giNLL4Mn pic.twitter.com/abVlfbu2l2
— CNN This Morning with Audie Cornish (@CNNThisMorning) February 4, 2021
The WHO team also visited the Huanan market where the COVID-19 virus was initially detected. As CNN reports, Daszak and other experts agree that the virus likely originated from wildlife but did not conclude the virus originated in the market or Wuhan.
The team of investigators is spending spend two weeks of field study in Wuhan, as part of a COVID-19 origins investigation.
While in quarantine, the team had daily virtual meetings with Chinese scientists, who shared updates on relevant #COVID19 studies done in #China plus other information and experiences. The team made requests for detailed underlying data, among other things.
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) January 28, 2021
The team plans to visit hospitals, laboratories and markets. Field visits will include the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Huanan market, Wuhan CDC laboratory. They will speak with early responders and some of the first #COVID19 patients.https://t.co/Owd6GEBoAj
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) January 28, 2021
While CNN’s David Culver notes that the field visit is 12 months after Wuhan went on a lockdown and over a year after the market was shut down, experts still believe they will find good information that could lead to the origin of the virus.
