US House Committee Concludes COVID 'Likely' Originated in Wuhan Lab

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Above: The P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology Image copyright: Hector Retamal/Contributor/AFP via Getty Images

The Facts

  • Following a two-year probe, the Republican-led US House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis on Monday released a report concluding that the pandemic "likely" originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

  • The 520-page report, covering multiple aspects of the pandemic — including the effectiveness of vaccinations, public health guidance, and other government-directed measures — supported the lab-leak theory after conducting dozens of depositions and reviewing more than a million pages of documents, the committee said.

  • The report concluded that the virus possessed features that would not occur naturally, including the furin cleavage site that's not present in other Coronaviruses — suggesting it was synthetically added in a laboratory. 

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The Spin

Right narrative

This is validation for those who supported the lab-leak theory but were mercilessly attacked for holding that position early in the pandemic. This is just the latest report — probably the most exhaustive yet — supporting the view that the virus emerged from the Wuhan lab.

Daily MailOversight

Left narrative

This report is politically partisan and unsurprisingly supports the lab-leak theory. But it's far from conclusive on the origins of COVID. Many scientists the world over still hold the view that the virus in fact emerged naturally.

CNNSTAT

Establishment-critical narrative

This report is just political propaganda from US lawmakers against China, which always seems to be America's bogeyman. This slanderous document is built on unscientific fact gathering and conflicts with experts who deem it unlikely that a lab leak kicked off the COVID pandemic.

Fmprc

Metaculus Prediction

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