Health
Covid-19 a man-made virus? WHO experts responds
A Russian virologist and expert at the World Health Organization (WHO) Dmitry Lvov stated that concerns over artificial origins of the virus do not have any value.
Last week Lvov told a Russian television program that, "Coronaviruses are primarily viruses associated with bats”.
He further added, “Someone could have been infected either in a room where a bat spent the night or in a cave where bats usually live in large numbers”.
He said that the virus infects people in a so quirky way that it couldn't have been made in a lab.
Another researcher who studied the genetics of the virus, Ian Lipkin from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, also dismissed human manipulation of the virus, saying there's no authentic evidence.
The Xinhua news agency reported that roughly 150 viruses have been transmitted to humans from animals during the domestication of wild animals.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden ordered to redouble efforts in COVID-19 origin investigation, following which several scientists believe the novel coronavirus' origin is in nature.
A microbiologist Robert Garry with Tulane University has analyzed the genome of the virus, citing National Public Radio (NPR) said, "Nothing's really tipped me or made me flip-flop or anything about it".
"I'm more convinced than ever that this is a natural virus," he added.
Garry also pointed out that its usual that nobody's pinpointed the source for the new coronavirus since it can take years to figure out a source, such as the Ebola virus.
"It's just a matter of time before we find the progenitor in a bat or some other species," he said.