New study claims lab leak behind SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus: Reports

The research obtained by the outlet is a 22-page article that will be published in the coming days in the scientific journal Quarterly Review of Biophysics Discovery.

The study alleges that Chinese scientists developed SARS-CoV-2 in a Wuhan laboratory, after which they made attempts of "deliberate destruction, concealment or contamination of data" to make the virus appearance look natural, transmitted from bats. Beijing has repeatedly denied such accusations.

In particular, the authors of the study said they found several features of the coronavirus that represent "unique fingerprints" indicating that "purposive manipulation" took place, and, given the fact that "the likelihood of it [virus] being the result of natural processes is very small," it was thus made by "laboratory manipulation".

According to the outlet, the scientists tried to publish their findings earlier, but major scientific journals, confident in the natural origin of the virus, refused their research.

Even when the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) Richard Dearlove called on the scientists to investigate the theory, their opinion was still regarded as fake news, the outlet added.

In early 2021, the WHO sent a fact-finding mission to the Chinese city of Wuhan where the virus was first detected, to identify the origin of COVID-19 by examining laboratories, hospitals, and markets for clues about the virus’ origins.

The experts concluded that a leak from the lab was "extremely unlikely," while the virus was most likely transmitted to humans from bats through an intermediary animal. A related report was published in March.

However, Washington, jointly with 13 other nations expressed concerns about whether Beijing communicated all raw data on the coronavirus to the WHO after media reports that the organization's investigators were denied access to data on more than a hundred early cases of COVID-19.

The states branded the WHO report as incomplete, while China denied all allegations and welcomed the results of the probe.

President Joe Biden has ordered the US Intelligence Community to redouble efforts to investigate the origins of the virus and to report their findings to him in 90 days.