A WORLD Health Organsation chief has refused to rule out claims Covid escaped from a Wuhan lab – as officials visit the Chinese city to trace the origins of the virus.
Dr David Nabarro, special envoy for the WHO’s Covid response, admitted “all options are on the table” as part of the probe.
Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates
He told Sophy Ridge on Sky that Chinese authorities are giving “exemplary cooperation” into the investigation.
However, he refused to rule out any theories about how the deadly bug broke out and began to spread.
The expert said: “All the sites that WHO people wanted to visit are being visited.
“There is an openness for all kinds of communication to take place.
“But it’s early days, this is detective work.
“We’re anticipating this will take quite a lot longer.”
Asked about rumours the virus leaked from the secretive Wuhan Institute of Virology, he said: “The thing about theories is you have to have them as a way to set up the reason why things might be occurring in a particular way.
“I can’t rule anything out.
“I know the team on the spot, as well as those they’re talking to in China, they’re not ruling anything out either.
“All options are on the table and everything will be looked at.”
China has long denied that the virus – which most scientists agree occurred naturally – may have escaped from its highest security lab.
But this month, top MPs demanded that China comes clean – after US officials say the “most credible” origin of coronavirus is a lab leak.
Senior Tory MPs Tom Tugendhat and Tobias Ellwood have called on the Government to probe allegations made by Donald Trump’s security advisor Matthew Pottinger.
The US are claimed to have a whistleblower former scientist from the Wuhan Institute who is working with their intelligence services.
Questions have loomed over the Institute since the start of the pandemic, and scientists there have repeatedly denied any allegations of a leak.
The lab was being used to create hybrid coronaviruses for research purposes, but there is no suggestion Covid-19 is manmade.
