Thread by @C4Dispatches

A global pandemic. A maze of unanswered questions.

The lethal cost of Covid-19 has been felt around the world - but where did the virus come from? Did it leak from a lab, or is that just a conspiracy theory? #CovidLeak?

Tonight at 10.15 on @Channel4 1/

@Channel4 From the beginning, much attention was paid to Wuhan’s wet markets, where exotic animals were sold.

But surprising features of the virus - unusual in naturally occurring pathogens - led some scientists to wonder about its origins. #CovidLeak? 2/

@Channel4 Could controversial science have been the source of the deadly virus?

Many scientists are concerned about Gain of Function research which enhances the ability of pathogens to harm or infect humans. #CovidLeak? 3/

@Channel4 Gain of Function research was under a funding ban in the US from 2014 until 2017, but some researchers believe that American money funded research in China during that period.

Dr Fauci, Chief Medical Advisor to the US President, vehemently denied it. #CovidLeak? 4/

@Channel4 As news outlets and social media suppressed discussions about a potential lab leak, a letter in Nature Medicine stated Covid-19 was "not a laboratory construct", and a letter in The Lancet stated the lab leak hypothesis was a “conspiracy theory” But was it? #CovidLeak? 5/

@Channel4 The World Health Organization has maintained throughout that a natural origin for Covid-19 is most likely. In January 2021, they arrived in China to begin an investigation.

But from the start, the investigation was severely constrained. #CovidLeak? 6/

@Channel4 After a year in which 4 million people have died of Covid-19, we still do not know for certain how it started - and we may never know.

What we do know is that the collection and testing of potentially dangerous pathogenic viruses is still going on. #CovidLeak? 7/

@Channel4 WATCH Did Covid Leak from a Lab in China? Tonight at 10.15 on @Channel4, then available on @All4. #CovidLeak?