The WHO seems to be shifting again on the lab-leak theory for SARS-CoV-2.

Back in March, it released findings from its international investigation into the origins of the virus that described the lab-leak hypothesis as extremely unlikely, although stressed that the issue remained a “work in progress”.

Last week, its director-general, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, who has been savaged for previously lavishing praise on China’s communist regime for its response to the pandemic, revealed the UN agency is now asking for greater transparency, especially on the raw data it had requested during the early days.

Referring to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which to many remains the prime suspect for the virus’s origins, he said: “We need information, direct information, on what the situation of this lab was before and at the start of the pandemic … If we get full information, we can exclude [the lab connection].”