A two-year investigation by US lawmakers concluded that the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed millions of people did not come from animals but likely leaked from a laboratory.
According to AFP news agency, the conclusion of the 520-page report from the US House of Representatives' Special Subcommittee on the COVID-19 pandemic assessed many issues related to this pandemic, from the response at the federal and state levels in the US to the origin of the virus that causes COVID-19 and vaccination work.
In recent times, US federal agencies, the World Health Organization (WHO) and scientists around the world have come to different conclusions about the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic but have not reached any consensus.
The US House of Representatives' COVID-19 pandemic subcommittee was convinced of the lab leak theory after meeting 25 times, conducting more than 30 interviews to release and reviewing more than 1 million pages of documents. The investigation also included 2 days of closed-door interviews with American physician and immunologist Anthony Fauci.
Gain-of-function research is controversial. It involves modifying viruses to make them more infectious, with the ultimate goal of studying and better understanding the virus's potential impact on humans.
A report by the US House of Representatives' Special Subcommittee on the COVID-19 Pandemic concluded that the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 "likely emerged as a result of a research or laboratory-related accident."
The inquiry also found that the lockdown "caused more harm than good" in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 has so far caused about 7 million deaths globally.
TB (according to VTC)