The U.S. Energy Department reportedly became the second government agency Sunday to conclude the coronavirus probably leaked from a lab rather than jumping from animals to humans naturally, a “low confidence” conclusion that lends more attention to a belief that was once considered—and by some, still is—to be little more than a fringe theory.
December 2019A cluster of cases of a mysterious respiratory disease were reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the first traces of a virus that would kill millions of people worldwide in the worst pandemic in decades.
February 16, 2020Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) becomes one of the first high-profile politicians to tout the theory that the coronavirus originated in a lab setting, either as an artificially created virus or as a natural virus that accidentally leaked out, an idea that broke with the predominant theory that the virus circulated in bats and was naturally transferred from animals to humans through a food market in Wuhan (Cotton acknowledged at the time he didn’t have evidence the virus emerged from a lab).
March 7, 2020A group of scientists sign an open letter condemning the “conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin”; this letter is later scrutinized, as one of its signers, Peter Daszak, is the head of EcoHealth Alliance, a group that has does work in China at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which some saw as a conflict of interest.
April 18, 2020Then-President Donald...
A post claiming to list all the actions taken by the Home Minister in Kashmir in the last 10 days is going viral on social media. The posts list out 18 points, which include claims regarding citiz...