A famous Chinese scientist does not rule out the possibility that the covid virus leaked from a laboratory

Wuhan Institute of Virology. / Photo: EPA-EFE / ROMAN PILIPEY

The possibility that the covid-19 virus leaked from a laboratory should not be ruled out, a famous Chinese scientist told "BBC".

As head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control, Professor George Gao played a key role in the response to the pandemic and efforts to trace its origins.

The Chinese government rejects any suggestion that the virus may have originated in the Wuhan lab. But Professor Gao thinks differently.

In an interview with the BBC, Professor Gao said: "You can always doubt something. It is science. Don't rule anything out."

A world-leading virologist and immunologist, George Gao is now vice president of the National Natural Science Foundation of China after retiring from the CDC last year.

In a possible sign that the Chinese government may have taken the lab leak theory more seriously than its official statements suggest, Gao said that some formal investigation has been conducted into the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

"The government organized something," he says, but adds that it did not involve his own department.

It is the first such admission that any official investigation has taken place, but Professor Gao says he has not seen the result.

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