Five years after the start of the covid-19 pandemic, there is still no certainty on the origin of the virus. But the question returned to the table on Saturday, January 26, after a new American statement involving China. “The CIA estimates, with a low degree of confidence and on the basis of all the available reports, that an origin of the COVVI-19 pandemic linked to research is more likely than a natural origin”, thus Indicated a spokesperson for the American security agency.
The hypothesis of a leak in a laboratory is today one of the tracks seriously envisaged by a part of the scientific community, without it being able to be scientifically proven. China continues to refute this allegation as a whole. “The authority scientific conclusion has reached the group of joint experts in China and the World Health Organization (WHO), based on field visits to the laboratories concerned in Wuhan, is That it is extremely unlikely that there was a laboratory leak, “said this Monday, January 27, Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
For Beijing, this questioning of the CIA, which comes only a few days after the enthronement of John Ratcliffe, the new agency director appointed by Donald Trump, aims “to politicize and instrumentalize the question of the Search for origins “. An alleged strategy that Washington must “stop” in order to “stop dirtying and reject the fault of other countries”, according to China.
Laboratory leak or transmission by an animal?
The discovery, at the end of 2019, of a rapid propagation center of the COVVI-19, in the scientific name of SARS-COV-2, in the heart of the Chinese city of Wuhan, placed China in the center of questions. Part of the specialists considers that the scenario of a laboratory leakage is a plausible track to explain the origin of this virus. The presence of an important virology laboratory in the city, known for its research around the coronavirus, constitutes the center of this hypothesis.
A year before the epidemic, this site had requested the possibility of carrying out research on a more easily transmitted SARS virus type, the characteristics of which strongly resemble that of SARS-COV-2. According to supporters of this theory, the absence of sufficient biosecurity standards within this laboratory could also have been a problem. If this hypothesis can be dismissed or verified, no evidence does not indicate for the moment with safety that the research center is linked to the propagation of the COVID-19.
The other scenario, in which a very large number of scientists also believes, remains that of a transmission of the animal to humans. A possibility supported by “concrete evidence”, according to some of these specialists. The latter cite in particular the results of one of the first studies on the subject, published by the journal Science At the beginnings of the epidemic, in December 2023. This showed that the cases of COVID-19 were grouped around the Huanan seafood market, in the heart of Wuhan. Other works have underlined the presence of viverrine dogs within the market. This canine species, close to the fox, can transmit viruses similar to SARS-COV-2.
Persistent shadows
Be that as it may, many gray areas persist today on the nature of the origin of COVID-19. The World Health Organization sent several experts for a few weeks to Wuhan at the beginning of 2021 to conduct research on the subject, but their action was limited by the access given by China to work in good terms. The study had however favored the second hypothesis, that of a “transmission to humans by an animal, perhaps in a Wuhan market”. But the group of specialists also pointed out that no eventuality could be completely rejected.
The questioning of China by the United States on the file of the origin of the COVVI-19 is not unprecedented. In March 2023, FBI director Christopher Wray said that a laboratory accident in Wuhan was “most likely” the reason for the origin of the virus. A statement that had led WHO to request clarification in Washington. “If a country has information on the origins of the pandemic, it is essential that this information is shared with WHO and the international scientific community,” said its director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
On December 30, the UN agency again asked for accounts from China. “We continue to ask China to share the data and access so that we can understand the origins of the COVID-19. It is a moral and scientific imperative. Without transparency, sharing and cooperation between countries, The world cannot adequately prepare for future epidemics and pandemics, “said the body in a press release. An essential issue, according to WHO, to “prevent” the next crises of this type.