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WHO investigator pours cold water on 'extremely unlikely' Covid-19 laboratory leak theory

Australian microbiologist Professor Dominic Dwyer said while laboratory leaks do occur, "fortunately they're rare".

A microbiologist who’s been investigating the source of Covid-19 in Wuhan says it's “extremely unlikely” the virus was leaked into the community via a lab.

Australian microbiologist Professor Dominic Dwyer was one of 10 people sent to Wuhan in February by the World Health Organization (WHO) to understand the origins of the SARS-Cov2 virus, which causes Covid-19.

Theories regarding the source of coronavirus have been swirling ever since the outbreak, including the possibility of a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology laboratory.

“Some of those ideas made common sense and some of those ideas have been driven by politics around the world,” Dwyer told Q+A.

While there was “certainly discussion” about the possibility of a lab leak, he believes the reality of the virus getting out of a laboratory is “extremely unlikely”.

“Laboratory leaks do occur; they have occurred around the world in a number of countries but fortunately they’re rare,” he said. 

Another factor was the quantity and state of the virus being kept in the lab – large amounts would generally have to be grown.

“Many of these bat coronaviruses, at least the ones that are very closely related to the SARS Coronavirus, actually haven’t been cultured in the lab; they’re only a genetic sequence rather than a live virus,” he said.

The University of Sydney professor says it is more likely the source is in bats, going from there to an intermediary animal, then on to humans who then passed it between each other.

“We know that somewhere out there is the parent virus… it’s just that no one’s found it yet.”

See the full interview with Dominic Dwyer on Q+A on Sunday at 9am on TVNZ 1 and 1NEWS.co.nz

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