One of the first scientists to publicly float the idea that COVID-19 leaked from a lab in Wuhan has not given up in her efforts to keep investigating the origins of the virus - and she could be set to uncover more in 2023. Dr Alina Chan, a gene therapy and cell engineering specialist at The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, has been persistent in her efforts to shine a light on the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China and is determined to find out how the virus actually started.
Until Dr Chan bravely told MPs at a session of the Science and Technology Select Committee in 2021 that it is “not safe for people who know about the origin of the pandemic to come forward”, theories like these were derided as conspiracies.
She first suspected that the virus may have leaked from the Wuhan lab back in March 2020 after noticing that no one had found any infected animals at the Wuhan wet market, where Covid was thought to have started.
But back then, scientists were reluctant to dispute the notion that the virus was zoonotic – meaning it was passed from animal to human.
She has also co-authored Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19 with science writer Matt Ridley, one of the most comprehensive texts to question the virus’ origins.
Mr Ridley spoke to Express.co.uk back in January 2022...
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