Photo / APTop international scientists have again poured cold water on widespread claims the Covid-19 pandemic began in a Chinese laboratory. Yet many theorists have surmised that the furin cleavage site was so unusual it must have been artificially inserted by scientists. "Hence, simple evolutionary mechanisms can readily explain the evolution of an out-of-frame insertion of a furin cleavage site in Sars-CoV-2," the researchers said. They added there was "no logical reason" why an engineered virus would use such a poor furin cleavage site as Sars-CoV-2's. "Further, there is no evidence of prior research at the WIV involving the artificial insertion of complete furin cleavage sites into coronaviruses."

Source: New Zealand Herald July 08, 2021 05:15 UTC