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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Amy Hawkins Senior China correspondent

Covid lab leak theory should not be ruled out, top Chinese scientist says

George Gao United States China Joe Biden CDC Covid-19 the Wuhan Institute of Virology WHO
Security personnel keep watch outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology in February 2021.
The lab leak claim is based on the fact that the Wuhan Institute of Virology is in the city where Covid-19 was first detected. Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

The former director of China’s Center for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) has said the lab leak theory for the origins of Covid-19 should not be discounted.

George Gao, an internationally respected virologist, also said another branch of the Chinese government had investigated the lab leak theory – the first such acknowledgment that some kind of official investigation took place. “They haven’t found wrongdoing,” he said.

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