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Scientists Shouldn't Rule Out Lab as Source of Coronavirus, New Study Says
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Newsweek
Posted: June 8th, 2020
https://www.newsweek.com/scientists-shouldnt-rule-out-lab-so...
A new scientific analysis of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has argued that scientists should not rule out the possibility that the virus originated in a laboratory setting. The new study ... was published on the site bioRxiv hosted by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. "Our observations suggest that by the time SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in late 2019, it was already pre-adapted to human transmission to an extent similar to late epidemic SARS-CoV. However, no precursors or branches of evolution stemming from a less human-adapted SARS-CoV-2-like virus have been detected," the authors of the study explained in the abstract. The analysis explains that there is still no clear evidence to point to a precise origin of the virus. Based on the genetic makeup and samples of the virus, it remains unclear whether SARS-CoV-2 adapted inside an intermediary animal host, within a human, or in a laboratory setting. It could have potentially jumped from species to species within a lab. In conclusion, the study cautions that various possibilities for how the outbreak began in humans "means that we need to take precautions against each scenario to prevent re-emergence." As Newsweek reported on April 27, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency updated an assessment of the origins of the novel coronavirus pandemic to suggest that it could have accidentally leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
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