MOSCOW, June 13. /TASS/. The possibility of laboratory origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus cannot be completely ruled out, immunologist Vladislav Zhemchugov told TASS.
When asked whether it is possible to completely exclude the laboratory origin of SARS-CoV-2, the expert replied:
"No, of course not. <...> Modern technologies do not leave any "rivets", "weld seals", so we will not find any traces to understand that the virus was created artificially. That is why, this question will forever remain open, if only someone comes clean [about developing the virus]."
However, Zhemchugov suggested that there could also be "specialists" who would want to get herostratic fame" when studying the origin of the virus.
Earlier, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that caused the pandemic should be revealed as soon as possible. But he stressed that it is necessary to avoid politicizing this issue.
A joint report by WHO and China, published in March 2021 following an international mission to Wuhan, noted that the most likely scenario for the emergence of COVID-19 is the transfer of the disease from bats to another animal, which later infected people. However, experts have not come to a final conclusion about how exactly the virus got into the Wuhan seafood market. There have been speculations about its laboratory origin.
In June 2021, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko announced that there was no evidence that the coronavirus emerged artificially.