Editing COVID-19 lab leak theory (section)

=== By the media  ===

On 16 April 2020, CNN quoted unnamed US intelligence and national security officials who said that the US government is looking into the possibility that virus spread from a Chinese laboratory rather than a wet market. One intelligence official said the virus may have accidentally been released from a laboratory in Wuhan. The source said sensitive intelligence was being collected to pursue the theory. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/15/politics/us-intelligence-virus-started-chinese-lab/index.html|title=US explores possibility that coronavirus spread started in Chinese lab, not a market|first=Josh Campbell, Kylie Atwood and Evan Perez|last=CNN|website=CNN}}</ref>

On 1 May 2020, the [[BBC]] published an editorial "Coronavirus: Is there any evidence for lab release theory?" Excerpt: "Pathogens can be made to mutate in a laboratory without the directed manipulation of their genes. In so-called "passage experiments", viruses or bacteria are passed from one lab animal to another in order to study how the agents adapt to their hosts. Past experiments have succeeded in making viruses more transmissible between animals using this low-tech method. But, again, there is no evidence that this played any role in the origin of the novel coronavirus."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52318539|title=Coronavirus: Is there any evidence for lab release theory?|date=1 May 2020|via=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>

On 1 May 2020, [[CBS News]] reported that two scenarios were being examined by the intelligence community about the origins of the novel coronavirus, quoting a senior U.S. intelligence official as saying that “evidence of both scenarios exists,” but the official didn’t say which of the two scenarios is deemed to be more likely. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-senior-intel-official-says-evidence-for-both-virus-origin-scenarios-exists/|title=Senior intel official says evidence for "both" virus origin scenarios exists|website=www.cbsnews.com}}</ref>

On 9 September 2020, ''[[Boston (magazine)|Boston]]'' magazine published a piece titled "Could COVID-19 Have Escaped from a Lab?" detailing investigations by Alina Chan of the [[Broad Institute]] into several anomalous aspects of the virus and its possible origins. Chan focused her research on the seeming preadaptation of the virus to humans, given that the genomes found on surfaces in the Wuhan seafood market earlier in the year were the same in circulation in human-to-human transmission elsewhere around the world later in the year. Chan uploaded a [[preprint]] to [[bioRxiv]],<ref name="auto1"/> which was cited in a Newsweek report titled "Scientists Shouldn’t Rule Out Lab as Source of Coronavirus, New Study Says.", and elicited criticism from a number of scientists, including [[Peter Daszak]] of [[EcoHealth Alliance]] and [[Jonathan Eisen]] of [[UC Davis]], challenging the notion that the virus was preadapted to humans. Chan was able to test her hypothesis as news broke that [[Cluster 5|the coronavirus had jumped from humans to minks at European fur farms]], and the mink version was shown to rapidly mutate. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2020/09/09/alina-chan-broad-institute-coronavirus/|title=Could Coronavirus Have Escaped from a Lab? &#124; bostonmagazine.com}}</ref>

On 14 November 2020, the ''[[Washington Post]]'' published an article titled "The coronavirus’s origins are still a mystery. We need a full investigation." noting that "troubling questions in China that must be examined, including whether the coronavirus was inadvertently spread in an accident or spill from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which had previously carried out research on bat coronaviruses."<Ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/the-coronaviruss-origins-are-still-a-mystery-we-need-a-full-investigation/2020/11/13/cbf4390e-2450-11eb-8672-c281c7a2c96e_story.html</ref>{{unreliable source|date=January 2021}}

On 22 December 2020, BBC investigative journalist John Sudworth published a report titled "Covid: Wuhan scientist would 'welcome' visit probing lab leak theory". Sudworth attempted to access the copper mine in Tongguan where the Mojiang Miners Pneumonia Incident occurred but was tailed by plain clothed police and blocked by checkpoints and obstacles. In an interview with Shi Zhengli of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Sudworth asked if the WHO would be able to access the Institute's data and records to which Shi answered "I would personally welcome any form of visit based on an open, transparent, trusting, reliable and reasonable dialogue. But the specific plan is not decided by me." The BBC subsequently received a call from the Institute's press office, saying that Shi was speaking in a "personal capacity and her answers had not been approved." <ref name="auto7"/>

On 22 December 2020, ''[[Le Monde]]'' published a piece titled "At the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, a SARS-CoV-2 virus with still enigmatic sources" questioning the origin of the virus as an accidental lab leak. <ref name="auto13"/>

On 31 December 2020, the ''[[The Times]]'' published an article titled "How did Covid-19 start? Hunt for patient zero has become caught in a clash of great powers" noting the differing opinions of scientists on the origins of the virus, as a zoonotic jump or accidental lab leak. The article quotes Peter Daszak as saying "If you had no politics, no conspiracy theories, no geopolitical pressure, no previous US State Department heads who said, 'China's to blame for this outbreak and there need to be reparations' it would be straightforward to find a lot more out." The article quotes a contrary opinion from Dr Alina Chan "No country wants to admit they have covert human pathogen research, ongoing that is causing mass death around the world." The article concludes "Publicly, many senior scientists have opposed this idea. We ... strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin, one group wrote in The Lancet in February. Privately, some scientists say it was not so absurd."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-did-covid-19-start-hunt-for-patient-zero-has-become-caught-in-a-clash-of-great-powers-hzmgmj0x9|title=How did Covid-19 start? Hunt for patient zero has become caught in a clash of great powers|first=Tom Whipple, Science|last=Editor|via=www.thetimes.co.uk}}</ref>

On 4 January 2021, ''[[The New Yorker Magazine|The New Yorker]]'' published a cover story titled "The Lab-Leak Hypothesis For decades, scientists have been hot-wiring viruses in hopes of preventing a pandemic, not causing one. But what if …?" by [[Nicholson Baker]]. <ref name="auto4"/>