Virus researchers say there is virtually no chance that the new coronavirus was released as result of a laboratory accident in China or anywhere else.

The assessment, made by more than half-a-dozen scientists familiar with lab accidents and how research on coronaviruses is conducted, casts doubt on recent claims that a mistake may have unleashed the coronavirus on the world.

Virus researchers say there is virtually no chance that the new coronavirus was released as result of a laboratory accident in China or anywhere else.

The assessment, made by more than half-a-dozen scientists familiar with lab accidents and how research on coronaviruses is conducted, casts doubt on recent claims that a mistake may have unleashed the coronavirus on the world.

The accident theory has been advanced by the Trump administration in recent weeks. Earlier this month, a set of State Department cables leaked to The Washington Post pointed to U.S. safety concerns at labs in Wuhan, the city where the virus emerged. Intelligence agencies are currentlyassessing the possibility of an accident, and last Wednesday, President Trump promised "a very thorough examination" of events.

Rather, the experts interviewed by NPR all believe that the virus was transmitted between animals and humans in nature, as has happened in previous outbreaks — from Ebola to the Marburg virus — andwithother known coronaviruses such as SARS and MERS.

"The real risk is in the wild in the way people interact with wildlife around the world," says Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance in New York City, a group that researches the origins of pandemics. "That's where we need to be focused if we want to really do something about preventing the next pandemic."

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sent a letter to Peter Daszak on Tuesday, less than a week after the agency took similar action against Daszak’s organization, EcoHealth Alliance (EHA). In the letter, HHS said it was holding Daszak responsible for EcoHealth Alliance’s failure to adequately monitor the activities of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and then subsequently failing to report on the lab’s high-risk virus studies.

“The alleged conduct of EHA is imputed to you, because during all or part of the time relevant, you participated in, knew of, or had reason to know of EHA’s improper conduct, through your role as the President of EHA” as well as project director and principal investigator, HHS wrote.

While bans generally last for about three years, “I may impose debarment for a longer period or shorter period as the circumstances warrant,” the agency said in the letter.

HHS cited information from 31 federal documents dating back to the National Institutes of Health’s initial 2014 grant to EcoHealth, leading up to the May 15 notice suspending and proposing debarment of Daszak’s organization.

EcoHealth and Daszak have come under fire from Republicans and Democrats over the group’s work with the Wuhan lab, particularly regarding controversial “gain of function” research to enhance the ability of the virus to cause disease or make it more transmissible.

Earlier this month, House lawmakers questioned Daszak about EcoHealth’s record on biosafety and its relationship with the Wuhan lab, though Republicans did not produce any evidence linking the COVID-19 pandemic to EcoHealth’s research

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Former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci has already been caught lying about COVID-19 many times. Now newly released emails from his longtime colleague Dr. David Morens, a senior adviser to the director at the National Institutes of Health, show a broad-based conspiracy, including involvement from disgraced Department of Health and Human Services contractor Dr. Peter Daszak, to cover up the trio’s role in facilitating gain-of-function research at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The 150 emails released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic show Morens knowingly and intentionally attempted to conceal evidence embarrassing to himself, Fauci, and Daszak. These efforts included deleting sensitive emails, conducting official business on a private email account, and strategically misspelling keywords to escape the reach of the Freedom of Information Act.

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