The unresolved question on COVID‐19 virus origin: The three cards game?
Alessândra Borsetti, Fabio Scarpa, Antonello Maruotti, Fabio Divino, Giancarlo Ceccarelli, Marta Giovanetti, Massimo Ciccozzi
Abstract
The ongoing discussion about the real origin of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) feeds acrimonious debates. Where did SARS-CoV-2 come from? Was SARS-CoV-2 transmitted in the wild from an animal to a person before exploding in Wuhan or was it an engineered virus that escaped from research or a laboratory in Wuhan? Right now, we still don't know enough whether SARS-CoV-2 is human-made or not, and lab-leak theories remain essentially speculative. Many recent studies have pointed out several plausible scenarios. Anyhow, currently, even if suspicions by some about the possibility of lab-leak hypothesis still remain, the consensus view is that the pandemic probably started from a natural source and, to determine the real origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, further research is needed.