No evidence shows COVID-19 originated in Wuhan: Chinese expert

China’s leading respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan said there is no evidence to prove the origins of COVID-19 were in China, and it is irresponsible to jump to any conclusion now.

Zhong is the head of an expert group of China’s National Health Commission. He also led Chinese medical workers to beat the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndromes (SARS) back in 2003.

“The COVID-19 epidemic broke out in Wuhan, China, but it doesn’t mean that the disease originated in Wuhan. We don’t have the evidence. This is an issue of science,” said Zhong.

Zhong said the origins can only be found out after adequate research. It is too early to draw any conclusion.

“We can eventually figure out the issue through the approaches of evolution in molecular biology. But it hasn’t been figured out yet. It’s not responsible to jump to a conclusion without getting facts straight. I don’t know its origins yet. I remember I once said at a meeting that the epidemic broke out in China, but we don’t know whether the origins are here or not,” said Zhong.

Zhong also gave his take on herd immunity, saying it is an unreliable solution as there is no evidence of people developing lifelong immunity against the disease after one infection.