Ever since the world was forced into lockdown in March 2020, the question of where and how Covid-19 appeared has captivated scientists and the wider public.
Tracing the source of the virus could be invaluable in preventing future pandemics, yet the quest to find Covid’s origins has been deeply politicized, which in turn has altered the course of research, collaboration and dialogue. Sadly, as a recent publication by Chinese scientists in Nature shows, we are still a long way from getting to the bottom of what happened in Wuhan in 2020.
