The question of the origin of the pandemic, between potential transmission of the virus by an animal or a laboratory leak, has taken on a geopolitical turn in the United States for several years, against a backdrop of increased rivalry with China. Donald Trump, recently elected to the White House for the second time, has repeatedly claimed – without proof – that the virus had leaked from a Chinese laboratory, which Beijing firmly disputes.
“Not a conspiracy theory”
Without resolving this question, American intelligence assured in a June 2023 report that it had no proof indicating that Covid-19 had been created in a laboratory in China.
The subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic was established in February 2023, when Republicans regained the majority in the House of Representatives. After two years of investigation, 38 depositions or interviews, and 25 hearings, the commission provided a report of more than 500 pages which will be officially published on Wednesday.
“This work will help the United States, and the world, predict, prepare for, protect against, and – hopefully – prevent the next pandemic,” said Commission Chairman L Republican elected official and professional podiatrist Brad Wenstrup.
The report boasts of a “consensus” between Democratic and Republican members on several questions, in particular on the fact that “the possibility that Covid-19 emerged from an accident linked to a laboratory or research is not a conspiracy theory.
“Biological characteristic not present in nature”
To support their assertion, the elected officials put forward five reasons, including, according to them, the fact that “the virus has a biological characteristic not present in nature”.
Nearly five years after its emergence, the international scientific community has not yet managed to determine with certainty the origin of Covid-19. A study published in September in the journal Cell, however, provided new elements to reinforce the hypothesis of transmission to humans by infected animals introduced into a market in Wuhan at the end of 2019.
