The statement referenced multipleВ academic and government sources that supported the Lancet articleвЂ™s conclusion. вЂњBut the scientists found that the SARS-CoV-2 backbone differed substantially from those of already known coronaviruses and mostly resembled related viruses found in bats and pangolins.вЂќДЄ statement in the Lancet, a medical journal, written by public health officials who have been following the progression of the virus also assertedВ that animals are the likely source:В вЂњScientists from multiple countries have published and analysed genomes of the causative agent, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2),В and they overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife.вЂќ вЂњIf someone were seeking to engineer a new coronavirus as a pathogen, they would have constructed it from the backbone of a virus known to cause illness,вЂќ the report said. Researchers concluded that if the virus were engineered, its genome sequence would more closely resemble earlier and more serious versions of the coronavirus. The Scripps Research Institute released a study that rejects the notion that the virus was man-made. The Washington Post reported most countries have abandoned their bioweapons programs after years of work did not yield satisfactoryВ results. Richard Ebright, a professor of chemical biology at Rutgers University, said earlier this year in an interview with The Washington Post: вЂњBased on the virus genome and properties, there is no indication whatsoever that it was an engineered virus.вЂќ 'It is probable, likely, that the virus is of animal origin,' WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said. On April 21, the World Health Organization noted at a briefing thatВ available evidence indicates coronavirus originated in animals in China late last year and was not manipulated or produced in a laboratory as has been alleged. Medical journals haveВ pointed toward animals in nature as the origin of the virus. Researchers have been racing to learn about the virus since it was recognized in December 2019 as a new strain. What researchers say: COVID-19 likely originated in nature Vox reported the claim also has been shared widely via message boards in China, prompting Chinese officials to release a statement denouncing the information. And opinion columnist Steven Mosher touted the idea in the New York Post in February. And conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh wrote in an article in FebruaryВ thatВ вЂњit probably is a ChiCom (Chinese Communist) laboratory experiment that is in the process of being weaponized.вЂќДЇormer White House strategist Steve Bannon repeated a similar claim on Fox News in March.

Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has suggested to Congress and Fox News that there may be a connection between the Wuhan lab and the origin of the virus.

People on multiple platforms and networks have shared the same or a similar version of the conspiracy theory. They concluded it does not show signs of having been manufactured or purposefully manipulated in a lab, though the exact origin remains murky and experts debate whether it may have leaked from a Chinese lab that was studying it.' On March 25, the Washington Times published an updated article that reflectsВ what an editor's note said is updated reporting: 'Since this story ran, scientists outside of China have had a chance to study the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In mid-March, USA TODAY contacted the author of the article, Bill Gertz, with a request to comment but did not get a response. The article quotedВ a former military intelligence officer who claimed the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a maximum-security Chinese laboratory granted authority to research dangerous pathogens,В вЂњis linked to BeijingвЂ™s covert bio-weapons program.вЂќ More: Fact check: Coronavirus originated in China, not elsewhere, researchers and studies say Related: WHO says coronavirus came from an animal and was not made in a lab One of the most prominent initial reports on the virus isВ an article published in January 2020В by the right-leaning Washington Times that suggests the coronavirus may have originated in a research laboratory in Wuhan, China. And as scientists have studied the virus, some theories have been debunked as false. The claim: The coronavirus may have originated in a Chinese laboratory.ДЄs the new coronavirusВ spreads, theories about its origins have circulated. In February 2021, this story has been updated to reflect current information on the origin of the novel coronavirus. The rating on the claim has been changed to Partly False to reflect that reporting.

Corrections & Clarifications: This fact-check has been revised based on updated reporting since it was first published in March 2020.

Virus creation lab