After 2 Year Probe, US Lawmakers Conclude COVID-19 Likely Originated from Chinese Lab Leak

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Wuhan Lab

After a two-year investigation into the COVID-19 pandemic, a congressional panel released a 520-page reporton Monday, endorsing the theory that the virus most likely originated from a laboratory accident in Wuhan, China. The pandemic has claimed 1.1 million American lives and left lasting global impacts.

The investigation, led by the Republican-controlled House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, examined the origins of the virus, the response at federal and state levels, and vaccine development efforts.

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The Select Subcommittee report stated “COVID-19 most likely emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.”  In support of the “lab leak” theory, the report said the subcommittee learned that the virus had a biological characteristic that is not found in nature and that data showed all COVID-19 cases stemming from a single introduction to humans.

“By nearly all measures of science, if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced,” the report says.

“This work will help the United States and the world prepare for, protect against, and hopefully prevent future pandemics,” said Brad Wenstrup, the panel’s chairman, in a letter accompanying the report.

Fox News notes the report mentions China’s foremost SARS research lab is in Wuhan, “which has a history of conducting gain-of-function research at inadequate biosafety levels,” and that researchers at the lab “were sick with a COVID-like virus in the fall of 2019, months before COVID-19 was discovered at the wet market.”

Initial rumors swirled at the beginning of the pandemic that China’s wet markets, which are known for selling meat, fish, produce and exotic animals in unsanitary conditions, were the origin of the virus.

that the committee based its conclusions on over one million pages of documents, 30 interviews, and 25 meetings. Among its findings, the report concluded that U.S. funding, funneled through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), supported controversial gain-of-function research at WIV.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, who served as a key public health advisor during the pandemic, has been a central figure in this debate. During closed-door interviews with the committee, Fauci denied claims that he concealed information about the virus’s origins, arguing that the bat viruses studied in Wuhan could not have been transformed into SARS-CoV-2.

The report, however, concluded that COVID-19 “likely emerged because of a laboratory or research-related accident.”

Additionally, the committee criticized lockdowns, mask mandates, and social distancing measures, asserting they caused more harm than good. However, it praised Operation Warp Speed for its success in accelerating vaccine development while noting the lasting consequences of school closures on children.

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