Top virologist says media stories on his private messages driving ‘ridiculous’ conspiracies

Professor Eddie Holmes says the front-page newspaper stories have been difficult for him.
Professor Edward Holmes.

Renowned virologist Professor Eddie Holmes says he is “so grateful” for support from the scientific community after news reports on his private messages about SARS-CoV-2’s origins provided fuel for conspiracy theories.

In March 2020, the evolutionary virologist from the University of Sydney and four of his colleagues published a paper in Nature Medicine, which concluded it was “improbable” that SARS-CoV-2 escaped from a laboratory.