Episode 100: Did COVID-19 Escape From a Lab — and Did Governments Know? In December 2019, a cluster of unusual pneumonia cases appeared in Wuhan, China — the same city that houses one of the world's leading coronavirus research facilities, the Wuhan Institute of Virology. By March 2020, a global pandemic had been declared. By 2023, the death toll exceeded seven million. And the question of where the virus came from has never been fully answered. This episode explores: * The Wuhan Institute of Virology — its bat coronavirus research programme, its gain-of-function work, and its proximity to the first outbreak* The three researchers who sought hospital treatment in November 2019 — confirmed in declassified US intelligence and denied by China* The deleted virus database removed from the WVI website in September 2019 — and the explanations that have never fully satisfied investigators* The furin cleavage site — the feature that makes SARS-CoV-2 so effective at infecting human cells, and what virologists say about its origin* The landmark May 2025 Cell study tracing the virus's evolutionary lineage to bat populations in Laos and Yunnan — and its limitations* The FBI and Department of Energy conclusions that a laboratory leak was the most likely origin — and why other agencies remain undecided For believers, the deleted database, the sick researchers, China's sustained refusal to allow independent investigation, and the early institutional suppression of the lab leak hypothesis collectively form a pattern too coherent to dismiss. For scientists who accept natural origin, the genetic evidence and evolutionary lineage studies outweigh the circumstantial case. What is certain: the complete records from the Wuhan Institute of Virology have never been examined by independent investigators. Until they are, the question cannot be fully closed. Keywords: COVID lab leak conspiracy, did COVID escape from a lab, Wuhan Institute of Virology truth, lab leak theory evidence, COVID-19 origin 2025, Wuhan virus gain of function, COVID governments knew, lab leak FBI conclusion, SARS-CoV-2 furin cleavage site, China COVID cover-up

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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