Long dismissed as a kooky conspiracy theory favoured by the far right, the idea that COVID emerged from a lab leak in Wuhan has been gaining increasing momentum in the United States (US).The government's position has shifted to agnosticism in recent weeks, with top pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky both saying they are open to all possibilities."We need to get to the bottom of this and we need a completely transp

China has called on the World Health Organisation (WHO) to take the lead in respecting the conclusions of scientists, a day after the international body's director-general faulted the findings of a mission to study the origins of COVID-19 in China."We need to respect science and respect the opinions and the conclusions reached by scientists," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying told a daily briefing in Beijing on Wednesday (31 March).

The United States (US) led a chorus of concern on Tuesday over a World Health Organisation (WHO)-backed report into the origins of the coronavirus in China, with accusations swirling that Beijing failed to give proper access to investigators.The United States released a statement with 13 of its allies - Britain, Japan and Australia among them - saying the inquiry had lacked the data and samples it needed.WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had earlier made a similar criticism, saying the tea

COVID-19 probably came to people through an animal, and likely started spreading no more than a month or two before it was noticed in December 2019, a World Health Organisation (WHO) draft report finds.The least likely source: a laboratory leak, the WHO's joint international team concluded.The WHO is scheduled to release the final report on its investigation into the origins of coronavirus on Tuesday, but a draft version of the report obtained by CNN shows there's still no smoking g

The world should be prepared for the coronavirus to continue to circulate long-term despite the roll-out of vaccines, the head of the European Union’s (EU) European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) health agency, Andrea Ammon, said on Friday."We should be prepared that it will remain with us," the head of the Stockholm-based health agency said in an interview with AFP."It seems more likely that it would stay.

A team of World Health Organization (WHO) experts investigating the origins of COVID-19 on Sunday went to a market in Wuhan where one of the first reported clusters of infections emerged over a year ago, with one member tweeting the visit was "critical" to understanding the virus. Members of the group arrived at Huanan seafood market - which has been sealed since January last year - driving into its barricaded premises as guards quickly blocked others from entering, accordi

It was the image that became a symbol of the chaos enveloping coronavirus-hit Wuhan: the body of a man lying for hours on a pavement.The grim scene, captured a year ago by AFP, was around the corner from a hospital in the Chinese metropolis – now known as the pandemic's "ground zero". But the corpse was left untouched until nervous and overwhelmed rescue workers carried it away.Although the cause of his death has never been established, the unknown man lying on his bac

Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) visited a Wuhan hospital Friday as the fieldwork began in a closely watched coronavirus origins probe that will take in a food market presumed to be "ground zero" of the pandemic.The WHO investigation has been hobbled by delays, and there are fears over access and the strength of evidence a year after the virus emerged in the central Chinese city.The team met Chinese officials Friday and then left their Wuhan hotel in a fleet of cars,

"People Supremacy, Life Supremacy" reads the sign at a Wuhan exhibition, where visitors are greeted by a paean to China's triumph over the pandemic and the agility of its communist leadership in a crisis. Saturday marks one year since the start of a 76-day lockdown of Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the coronavirus was first detected before sweeping across the world and killing more than two million people.With China's official death toll from the virus unde

It is the world's most pressing scientific puzzle, but experts warn there may never be conclusive answers over the source of the coronavirus, after an investigative effort marked from the start by disarray, Chinese secrecy, and international rancour.11 January marks the anniversary of China confirming its first death from COVID-19, a 61-year-old man who was a regular at the now-notorious Wuhan wet market.Nearly two million deaths later, the pandemic is out of control across much of the w