The Covid ‘lab leak’ theory isn’t just a rightwing conspiracy – pretending that’s the case is bad for science | Jane Qiu

While figures like Steve Bannon have exploited the issue, scientists have done themselves no favours by shutting down legitimate inquiry

More than five years after the Covid-19 pandemic was declared, its origins remain a subject of intense - and often acrimonious - debate among scientists and the wider public. There are two broad, competing theories. The natural-origins hypotheses suggest the pandemic began when a close relative of Sars-CoV-2 jumped from a wild animal to a human through the wildlife trade. In contrast, proponents of lab-leak theories argue that the virus emerged when Chinese scientists became infected through research-associated activities.

A perplexing aspect of the controversy is that prominent scientists continue to publish studies in leading scientific journals that they say provide compelling evidence for the natural-origins hypotheses. Yet rather than resolving the issue, each new piece of evidence seems to widen the divide further.

Jane Qiu is an award-winning independent science writer in Beijing. The reporting was supported by a grant from the Pulitzer Center

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