Top Scientist Says Lab Origin for COVID-19 Possible

A top scientist said in newly disclosed testimony that a lab origin for the virus that causes COVID-19 is possible, citing how Chinese scientists operated in less-than-ideal conditions. “You can’t rule that out,” Ralph Baric, a University of North Carolina professor and member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, said in the testimony. Mr. Baric pointed to how researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, located near where the first cases of COVID-19 were detected, conducted experiments on viruses under biosafety level two conditions, rather than the biosafety level three conditions typically employed elsewhere. Mr. Baric has for years worked with Shi Zhengli and other Wuhan scientists, testing enhanced viruses in work they say helps prepare for outbreaks by making it easier to develop countermeasures such as vaccines....