I think the Chinese government probably knows the truth and isn't talking because no matter what it is, they are severely embarrassed. Either their scientists screwed up lab safety or they failed to clean-up the wild animal trade as they had promised to do after the first SARS pandemic. I tend to believe it is a lab leak, because if is from an animal market, they could drop a dead rat on Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ desk at WHO and arrest some animal traders and butchers as the fall guys. The lab leak would implicate some party officials which is unacceptable
There has been pushback on the lab leak hypothesis:
"New Reconstruction Points to Animal Origins for Covid-19: An evolutionary biologist reviewed data and reports on first known cases to show most were clustered around Wuhan’s seafood market" By Betsy McKay • Nov. 18, 2021
"A scientist known for investigating viral origins has reconstructed the first known weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic, adding to a growing body of evidence that the virus behind it jumped from infected animals to humans rather than emerging from laboratory research.
"In a paper published Thursday in the academic journal Science, Michael Worobey concludes a wholesale seafood market in Wuhan, China, where live mammals were sold is very likely to be the site of the origin of the pandemic."
I think the Chinese government probably knows the truth and isn't talking because no matter what it is, they are severely embarrassed. Either their scientists screwed up lab safety or they failed to clean-up the wild animal trade as they had promised to do after the first SARS pandemic. I tend to believe it is a lab leak, because if is from an animal market, they could drop a dead rat on Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ desk at WHO and arrest some animal traders and butchers as the fall guys. The lab leak would implicate some party officials which is unacceptable
There has been pushback on the lab leak hypothesis:
"New Reconstruction Points to Animal Origins for Covid-19: An evolutionary biologist reviewed data and reports on first known cases to show most were clustered around Wuhan’s seafood market" By Betsy McKay • Nov. 18, 2021
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-reconstruction-points-to-animal-origins-for-covid-19-11637262041
"A scientist known for investigating viral origins has reconstructed the first known weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic, adding to a growing body of evidence that the virus behind it jumped from infected animals to humans rather than emerging from laboratory research.
"In a paper published Thursday in the academic journal Science, Michael Worobey concludes a wholesale seafood market in Wuhan, China, where live mammals were sold is very likely to be the site of the origin of the pandemic."
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm4454