Fever: The Hunt for Covid's Origin

5. Labs, Safety, and Risk

The lab leak theory goes mainstream. How safe are top-security laboratories?After the World Health Organization’s attempts to find the origin of Covid effectively rule out a lab leak, there’s a backlash. A new US president helps bring the lab leak theory into the mainstream. What are the dangers involved in the work being done in virology laboratories? How effective are their safety measures? And do the benefits of their work outweigh the risks? John visit’s a top biosafety lab to find out.Archive: CGTN; CBS; The White House; CNN; C-SPAN.Presenter: John Sudworth
Series producer: Simon Maybin
Editor: Richard Vadon
Sound design and mix: James Beard
Commissioning editor: Dan Clarke
Science advice: Julian Siddle and Victoria Gill
Extra production: Eva Artesona and Kathy Long
Research support: Zisheng Xu and BBC Monitoring
Production coordinators: Siobhan Reed, Helena Warwick-Cross, Sophie Hill, and Debbie Richford
Theme and original music: Pete Cunningham, with trumpet by Joss Murray
Radio 4 Editor of Editorial Standards: Roger Mahony
Head of BBC News - Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon

Cover-ups, coincidences, and conspiracy theories: where did Covid come from?
 
John Sudworth was the BBC's China correspondent when an unexplained pneumonia started worrying Wuhan doctors in December 2019. Since then, he's been investigating the origin of the virus that would turn into a devastating global pandemic.
 
From the beginning, there have been claims of certainty. Many scientists say the virus that causes Covid came from nature - probably carried from bats to other animals, and then to humans in a Wuhan market. 
 
But an alternative possibility - that it leaked from a laboratory - has refused to go away. And other scientists claim there's uncertainty. For them, the mystery of Covid's origin remains unsolved.
 
So, where did Covid come from? For every one of the millions of lives lost, for every long sufferer, for the pain, the isolation, and the incalculable economic cost, the answer matters. It might also help us prevent another - maybe even worse - pandemic.
 
But it's a debate that's become politicised, toxic, and a bit crazy.
 
Presenter: John Sudworth
Series Producer: Simon Maybin
Editor: Richard Vadon
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke