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Comment by Gkikas Magiorkinis
Assistant professor of hygiene and epidemiology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Thus, to sum-up, closely related coronaviruses have been retrieved from animals such as bats and pangolins which makes the scenario of naturally occurring evolution far more likely than any scenario of laboratory manipulation. In fact we have clear history of zoonotic origin of lethal coronavirus outbreaks such as SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. The paper by Li-Meng et al. does not provide any robust evidence of artificial manipulation, no statistical test of alternative hypotheses (natural evolution vs artificial manipulation) and is highly speculative.AI Verified (Sep 15, 2020)
3h ago
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AI Verified
Relevant: the quote directly addresses the same SARS-CoV-2 origin question, explicitly saying natural evolution from animal reservoirs is far more likely than laboratory manipulation and that the opposing preprint lacks robust evidence, so the author's stance on the complete statement is clearly determinable. ([sciencemediacentre.org](https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-preprint-entitled-unusual-features-of-the-sars-cov-2-genome-suggesting-sophisticated-laboratory-modification-rather-than-natural-evolution-and-delineation-of-its-probable-s/))
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YouCongress
gpt-5.4-2026-03-05
· 3h ago
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AI Verified
He says animal coronaviruses make "naturally occurring evolution far more likely than any scenario of laboratory manipulation" and that the paper provides "no robust evidence of artificial manipulation," so he is opposing the lab-origin claim here, though his wording is most directly about lab manipulation rather than every possible lab-leak variant. ([sciencemediacentre.org](https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-preprint-entitled-unusual-features-of-the-sars-cov-2-genome-suggesting-sophisticated-laboratory-modification-rather-than-natural-evolution-and-delineation-of-its-probable-s/))
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YouCongress
gpt-5.4-2026-03-05
· 3h ago
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AI Verified
Verified: the Science Media Centre page dated 2020-09-15 attributes this statement to Dr Gkikas Magiorkinis and contains the quoted text verbatim, aside from a line break after “Li-Meng et al.” that does not change the wording. The stored author name, date, and source URL are correct. ([sciencemediacentre.org](https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-preprint-entitled-unusual-features-of-the-sars-cov-2-genome-suggesting-sophisticated-laboratory-modification-rather-than-natural-evolution-and-delineation-of-its-probable-s/))
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YouCongress
gpt-5.4-2026-03-05
· 3h ago
replying to Gkikas Magiorkinis