WHO chief: 'Premature' to rule out COVID-19 lab leak theory

The World Health Organization (WHO) chief said on Thursday that there was a “premature push” to rule out the COVID-19 lab leak theory without enough evidence.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged to reporters during a briefing that the theory that COVID-19 originated from a lab is possible, in remarks that strayed from the WHO’s controversial report designating the hypothesis as “extremely unlikely.”

Tedros cited his experience as a lab technician and immunologist, saying that “lab accidents happen” and “it’s common,” so “checking what happened, especially in our labs,” is important to deducing what sparked the pandemic. 

“If we get full information, we can exclude that,” he said, referring to the theory.

“In any outbreak, you go and understand the origins,” Tedros added. “We need to know what happened in order to prevent the next one.”