WHO mission says lab leak virus theory 'extremely unlikely'
This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (yellow)—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19—isolated from a patient, emerging from the surface of cells (blue/pink) cultured in the lab. Credit: NIAID-RML
Experts from the WHO on Tuesday all but eliminated a controversial theory that COVID-19 came from a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
"The laboratory incident hypothesis is extremely unlikely to explain the introduction of the virus into the human population," said Peter Ben Embarek, the head of the WHO mission.
"Therefore is not in the hypotheses that we will suggest for future studies."
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WHO mission says lab leak virus theory 'extremely unlikely' (2021, February 9)
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