From bat or lab? Expert view on possibilities of Covid origin

Speaking on the reports which says that origin point of Covid-19 is China’s Wuhan lab, Director of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Dr Rakesh Mishra on June 12 said, “It’s very unlikely that something of this kind has come from a lab, it’s more likely a zoonotic origin from bat that spread in people, stayed there for some time and then acquired Covid-19 status.” “It could also be that from the bat, it infected some other animal. Bat (as the origin point) because it's the closest relative of this virus with 96% similarity in terms of genetic material,” he added.