The lab link hypothesis that the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 leaked from a lab in Wuhan is gaining ground in some circles. I don’t buy it. There are two forms of the hypothesis - 1. That the lab in Wuhan genetically engineered the virus and released it. This is refuted by the sequence of nucleotides in the virus. The Sars-Cov-2 virus is 96% identical to one found in bats. The differences are randomly located and not complete blocks of RNA to change functionality that would be seen if it was engineered. This is explained in this 9-minute episode of the
More of Less podcast.
2. There is a variant of the hypothesis that the virus was being studied in the Wuhan lab, and some researchers got infected and then spread it outside in the general population. There is no evidence that I’ve seen to support that. Yes, I know about the reports that some lab workers had to go to the hospital a few weeks before Covid-19 started to spread. People have to go to hospitals all the time. There is no evidence at this time to link that and Covid. There is no evidence ruling it out either, but I’m not prepared to bridge the gap between these events the way some people do (gleefully, it seems to me).
The Chemistry World
article by
Philip Ball discusses the lab leak hypothesis in light of the biochemistry of the virus.
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