Recent studies indicate that the theory suggesting the COVID-19 virus originated from a laboratory leak, which had been dismissed as a conspiracy, is gaining traction as a viable explanation based on new analysis.

A team of researchers from Australia and Arizona employed an extensive risk analysis tool touted as the most comprehensive of its kind to assess whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus emerged from “unnatural” or “natural” origins, the Daily Mail reports.

This analysis involved comparing certain features of the virus against 11 criteria, focusing on various elements such as the rarity of the virus, the timeline of the pandemic’s development, affected populations, rate of spread and any atypical symptoms the virus may cause.

To reach a conclusion, the researchers assigned a score to each criterion. A score below 50% would imply the pandemic naturally occurred, while a score at or above that would suggest an unnatural outbreak.

The outcome of this study gave COVID-19 a score of 68%.

Although the findings don’t pinpoint the exact origin of COVID-19, they challenge the conventional focus on animal-to-human transmission due to a lack of solid evidence, such as an identifiable animal host.

Highlighting the implications of the assessment, co-author Raina MacIntyre, a professor of Global Biosecurity at the University of New South Wales, elaborated on the significance of the results.

“The key point [the findings] make is that the likelihood of [COVID-19] originating from a lab is nontrivial and cannot be dismissed as a conspiracy theory,” she told the Daily Mail.

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