Probing Covid-19 origins to stave off, as long as possible, the next pandemic

THE idea that Covid-19 might have leaked from a research laboratory in Wuhan has recently been revived, with United States President Joe Biden ordering intelligence officials to step up efforts to investigate the potential origins of the virus - including the laboratory theory - and giving them three months to report back.

The prevailing theory amid the scientific community is still that the virus jumped naturally across species, from wild animals to humans. Also known as "zoonotic transfer", this has been the origin of many past pandemics such as avian flu, swine flu, and Ebola.

An earlier investigation by the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted Wuhan's animal markets - where both live and dead animals were sold - as a probable source of Covid-19. The report concluded that, in contrast, it was highly unlikely that the virus had leaked from a laboratory.