What to Know About the Covid Lab Leak Theory

<p>Three years after the start of Covid, the central mystery of the pandemic — how exactly it began — remains unsolved. But recently, the debate about the source of the coronavirus has re-emerged, this time in Congress.</p><p>The Energy Department has concluded, with “low confidence,” that an accidental laboratory leak in China was most likely the origin, but politics are making it harder to find definitive answers.</p><p>Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/benjamin-mueller?smid=pc-thedaily">Benjamin Mueller</a>, a health and science correspondent for The New York Times.</p><p>Background reading: </p><ul><li>Republicans have<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/us/politics/covid-lab-leak-house-hearing.html"> pushed the lab leak theory</a>, but they lack a “smoking gun.”</li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/27/us/politics/covid-origin-lab-leak-china.html">What we know and don’t know</a> about the origins of Covid.</li></ul><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily">nytimes.com/thedaily</a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.</p>