Bat Or Human?

Indian scientists see substance in lab leak theory

- Rekha Dixit

A spillover from nature or a lab-engineered chimaeric escapee? It is Season 2 of the whodunit, as the focus shifts back to the origin of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, the villain of the Covid-19 pandemic.

President Joe Biden, outdoing predecessor Trump, has given his secret service a 90-day deadline to redouble efforts and come closer to a definitive conclusion of the origin of the virus''. What are the chances that spies will uncover that clinching evidence? And how many skeletons that tumble out may have to be discreetly taken away? As the US takes on China in a battle for economic might, its own role in funding research in Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) will be up for inspection, again.

A year and a half after the illness was first reported from Wuhan, opinion on its origin remains, at best, an educated guess, with only circumstantial evidence in support either way. The same set of data is regarded by different scientists to arrive at polar opposite conclusions. For instance, as they examine the shape and position of spike proteins in the virus, some see clear signs of a cleavage that is a tell-tale mark of cut-paste work in the lab. The same proteins to other eyes, however, seem naturally positioned. Genetic manipulation is sophisticated today, and the end result could look seamless and natural.

A fresh revelation is a US intelligence report that three workers from WIV needed hospitalization in November 2019, shortly before the world heard of the infection. There is no information on how close these workers were to viruses or the exact nature of their ailment. China has denied the report.