SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, most likely spread from an animal source to humans, and did not leak from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, according to a review of existing scientific evidence by a global team of scientists. The yet-to-be published study, posted on the pre-print server Zenodo on July 7, noted that while a laboratory accident “cannot be entirely dismissed”, there currently exists zero evidence for such a lab origin of the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Amid a global debate around the origins of the deadly virus, 21 eminent scientists from universities and research institutes around the world reviewed the current scientific evidence to help clarify the source of the virus.