It has been five years now since the COVID-19 spread started in China and became the worst outbreak of a contagious disease in 100 years.
A new report released by Republicans on Capitol Hill tries to get at one of the pandemic's most frustrating and enduring mysteries: how did it start?
The GOP members on a House oversight subcommittee investigating the origins of the virus have concluded that "COVID-19 most likely emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China," referring to the Wuhan Institute of Virology where scientists had been researching COVID-like viruses.
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The panel's report echoes the opinion of Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the early days of the pandemic, who testified at the subcommittee.
"COVID-19 was more likely the result of an accidental lab leak than the result of a natural spill-over event," Redfield said during a March 2023 hearing.
To support that finding, the new report includes a number of controversial claims including that the virus had biological characteristics that do not occur naturally.
"I don't think there's any truth to that," said Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health law at Georgetown University, who has researched the origins of COVID-19. "
Gostin says normal genetic mutations explain the unique attributes of the virus. He disagrees with the lab leak theory, saying it still appears the coronavirus naturally jumped from wildlife to humans at the Wuhan seafood market where many fell ill.
"The clear preponderance of scientific evidence points clearly to the market, but scientists have an open mind and we will never know for sure," Gostin said.
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U.S. intelligence agencies remain divided on how COVID started, reaching no firm answers despite years of investigation.
A 2023 assessment by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said, "China's cooperation most likely would be needed to reach a conclusive assessment of the origins of COVID-19."
Democrats on the subcommittee did not endorse many of the report's takeaways, a sign of the politics still swirling around COVID five years later.
Republicans have accused top government scientists of downplaying and vilifying the lab leak theory, while Democrats say Republicans are supporting extreme theories that fail to advance the understanding of how COVID came to be.
Gostin said it is likely the world will never know if COVID resulted from a lab accident or if it developed naturally.
"It's a mystery that will remain veiled for all of history," he said.
