There's a growing push among lawmakers and scientists to investigate the origins of COVID-19 in China.
18 top scientists say we need more information on what happened in China. In addition, they don't discount the possibility of a lab leak from Wuhan. That's significant because in 2020 conservatives were blasted for raising the possibility the virus got out of a virology lab. Science writer and author Nicholas Wade says the investigation could put the Chinese government back in the spotlight.
“Up till now, they’ve been sitting pretty because everyone’s been saying it’s natural emergence, but if people start saying ‘No, it looks like it was a lab escape,’ that would put pressure on China for the first time to come forward with the evidence that so far they have been withholding,” Wade said.
Wade believes the Beijing benefited when many in the West dismissed the theory.
“The Chinese authorities are clearly conducting a very deliberate campaign to conceal what happened to influence West opinion,” He explained. “They’ve suppressing all information, all the records at the Wuhan Institute, all the databases.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he supports the investigation. However, when he first took office, he shut down the task force looking into the virus' origin.
According to a report from Fox News, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee say there is “significant circumstantial evidence” that the outbreak stemmed from a leak. They're urging the government to put more pressure on China to reveal what they know.