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Comment by David L. Robertson

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Virologist at the University of Glasgow specializing in viral genomics and evolution
There is no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 was man-made let alone that it escaped from a lab. All of the scientific data clearly points to a virus naturally circulating in horseshoe bats being transmitted to humans most probably via contact with infected live animals at the Huanan Seafood market in Wuhan in late 2019.
AI Verified (Nov 28, 2023)
Source:
David Robertson, expert reaction published by the Science Media Centre, November 28, 2023.
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Policy proposals and claims
COVID-19 originated from a lab-related incident rather than natural zoonotic spillover
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AI Verified Directly on the complete statement: the quote explicitly rejects a lab-made/lab-escape origin and says the scientific data instead point to natural transmission from bats to humans via infected live animals at the Huanan market, making the author’s stance readily determinable. ([sciencemediacentre.org](https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-comments-made-by-michael-gove-at-the-covid-19-inquiry-about-the-origins-of-covid-19-saying-the-virus-may-have-been-man-made/?utm_source=openai)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago
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AI Verified He explicitly rejects a lab-origin account, saying there is "no evidence" SARS-CoV-2 "escaped from a lab," and says the data instead point to natural transmission from bats via infected live animals at the Huanan market. That is clear opposition to the statement. ([sciencemediacentre.org](https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-comments-made-by-michael-gove-at-the-covid-19-inquiry-about-the-origins-of-covid-19-saying-the-virus-may-have-been-man-made/)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago

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AI Verified The quote is authentic. The Science Media Centre page at the supplied URL is dated November 28, 2023 and attributes the statement to “Prof David Robertson, Head of Viral Genomics and Bioinformatics (Centre for Virus Research), University of Glasgow”; the quoted text appears there verbatim. University of Glasgow pages identify this scientist as Professor David L Robertson, so the stored author form “David L. Robertson” is consistent with the canonical identity. ([sciencemediacentre.org](https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-comments-made-by-michael-gove-at-the-covid-19-inquiry-about-the-origins-of-covid-19-saying-the-virus-may-have-been-man-made/)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago
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