--- title: "WHO Investigators: “Extremely Unlikely” That COVID Escaped From Chinese Lab" description: "A team sent by the World Health Organization to investigate the origins of COVID-19 announced that it's \"extremely unlikely\" that the virus came from a lab." date: "2021-02-09" modified: "2021-02-09" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/who-extremely-unlikely-covid-escaped-chinese-lab" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "china" - "coronavirus" - "covid19" - "WHO" - "world health organization" --- # WHO Investigators: “Extremely Unlikely” That COVID Escaped From Chinese Lab ![A team sent by the World Health Organization to investigate the origins of COVID-19 announced that it's "extremely unlikely" that the virus came from a lab.]() *\Image: NIAID\* A team sent by the World Health Organization to China to investigate the origins of COVID-19 announced during a Tuesday press conference that it's "extremely unlikely" that the virus escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China, [*The Guardian* reports](), a popular conspiracy theory [supported by former US president Donald Trump](). The findings come after the WHO sleuths spent two weeks [investigating the area](), including the [heavily guarded]() Wuhan Institute of Virology, following two weeks of hotel quarantine. Team lead Ben Embarek said that having reviewed the facility's security protocols, it’s "very unlikely that anything could escape from that place," according to the *Guardian*. While the team couldn't say for certain how the virus got to the local Huanan seafood market, there appeared to be no widespread circulation of the virus prior to December 2019. The WHO investigators considered several hypotheses about how the virus may have emerged, the most popular of which was the theory that it originated in bats and jumped to humans through a possible intermediate species. Another theory suggests that a bat may have been brought to a Wuhan lab and then accidentally escaped, with some arguing it could've been from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. But a "direct jump from bats in the city of Wuhan is not very likely," said Embarek during the press conference, as [quoted by *CNET*](). "Our initial findings suggest that the introduction through an intermediary host species is the most likely pathway and one that will require more studies and more specific targeted research," he added. Embarek also didn't rule out "the hypothesis of a direct spillover from an original animal source," and that the virus may have been transmitted through frozen products being sold at the seafood market. "We know that the virus can persist and survive in conditions that are found in these cold and frozen environments," Embarek said. "But we don’t really understand if the virus can then transmit to humans and under which conditions this could happen." ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()