Interview: New Coronavirus "Laboratory Leak Theory" Cannot Withstand Scientific Scrutiny

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 9 - Interview: New virus crown "lab leak theory" can not withstand scientific perspective - Interview with British virus expert at Glasgow University, David Robertson

Xinhua News Agency reporter Lin Xiaochun and Yan Liang

"There is no evidence that the new coronavirus was made in a laboratory.
All these claims ('laboratory leak theory') cannot stand scientific scrutiny
.
" Professor David Robertson, Head of Viral Genomics, University of Glasgow Virus Research Center, accepted Xinhua News Agency reporter said in an interview

Robertson is a well-known Western virology expert.
In the research on the traceability of the new coronavirus, he is strongly critical of the "laboratory leak theory
.
" Recently, in an email reply to reporters, he wrote: "The'Laboratory Leak Theory' did not provide any evidence other than the geographical location of Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan

The US "Science" magazine published an open letter in May, claiming that the China-WHO joint research report did not balance the theory of natural origin and the "laboratory leakage theory" and called for serious consideration of the "laboratory leakage theory

In response to some conspiracy theorists claiming that the RaTG13 coronavirus may be the source of the new coronavirus, Robertson said that the coronavirus isolated from Yunnan bats by researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology is very different from the new coronavirus, with about 1,100 mutations.
The RaTG13 coronavirus cannot be the ancestor of the new coronavirus
.
Based on this, he believes that there is no need to associate Wuhan Institute of Virology, RaTG13 with the new coronavirus

Robertson said that the RaTG13 coronavirus found in Yunnan is the closest to the new coronavirus.
It is misleading because there are many coronaviruses in nature, and many viruses have not been sampled.
Among known viruses, the relationship between the two is relatively close.
In fact, there are decades of evolutionary distance between them
.

"At present, all data strongly point in one direction, that is, this is a natural virus, not a laboratory-made virus
.
We need to believe in the existing evidence and believe in experts with experience in studying the evolution and emergence of viruses

Robertson also sent reporters a preprinted paper jointly signed by more than 20 colleagues from the United States, Australia, Canada and other countries on the open scientific data platform Zenodo in July

Speaking of the recent hype in the United States about the "laboratory leak theory" of the new crown virus, Robertson admitted that he was "really hard to understand" all this because the United States "did not provide new data" to support their claims

Robertson said that it is completely reasonable to be open to alternative hypotheses in scientific research.

Regarding the politicization of the origin of the virus in the United States, he said: "The main point I want to say is that it (the origin of the virus) is no longer regarded as a science by (the United States)