The World Health Organization (WHO) organized a panel of independent specialists known as the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), which released facts about the origin of COVID-19. This arises after several studies and reports that have similar findings since the beginning of the pandemic. Instead of a lab breach, SARS-CoV-2 most likely spread from an infected animal at the Huanan market in Wuhan. Researchers assessed several theories on the possible emergence of a new coronavirus in Wuhan towards the end of 2019.
It was concluded that the virus most likely originated from a natural animal-to-animal (zoonosis), potentially carried by China’s uncontrolled wildlife trafficking. The hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 may have been produced in a lab is not a conspiracy theory. Due to political objectives, various conspiracy stories have become more prevalent in the public conversation since the pandemic was detected. According to a popular conspiracy theory, researchers were under pressure from high officials to deny the lab leak theory and support the “preferred” scenario of having a natural cause. However, accumulating data about how SARS-CoV-2 spreads naturally, based on the latest information that has surfaced in the last five years, after Nature Medicine’s study.
Genomic analyses have revealed no evidence of laboratory manipulation in the SARS-CoV-2 genome. High-risk animals affected with diseases are routinely transported into highly populated regions of China due to the multibillion-dollar wildlife trade. It is considered that the virus that caused the SARS pandemic (SARS-CoV-1) first appeared in China’s Guangdong region in 2002. The live-animal market in Wuhan, Hubei, was the centre of the first documented COVID cases in 2019, according to detailed examinations of epidemiological data. In another investigation conducted in 2024, researchers observed that the same samples had genetic material from vulnerable species, along with additional surfaces that were used to store and move them.
Public trust in science has eroded due to speculation and conspiracy theories around the beginning of COVID-19. The conspiracy was fuelled by some critics, who incorrectly sought to balance zoonotic origin and lab leak ideas. This has resulted in major budget cuts to the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control in the United States (U.S). The adoption of life-saving vaccinations and other medical treatments suffers when confidence in scientific and public health organizations is lost.
Pandemic risk has dangerously inflated because of the spread of conspiracy theories regarding its origin. The increasing risk that everyone faces was highlighted by this evidence-based assessment that COVID most likely started with a virus that spreads from animals to people. Pandemics often begin this way, and future outbreaks are inevitable. While humans are destroying their capacity to prevent or prepare for it.
Reference: Holmes EC, Rambaut A, Andersen KG, Garry RF. How conspiracy theories about COVID’s origins are hampering our ability to prevent the next pandemic. The Conversation. Published on July 29, 2025. Accessed on July 31, 2025. How conspiracy theories about COVID’s origins are hampering our ability to prevent the next pandemic
