Apparently international harmony is more important than facts…
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-uk-latest-news-covid-omicron-live-12507015
Scientists feared debate over origin of COVID could hurt 'international harmony' – reports
Emails sent to Dr Anthony Fauci, the US government's top medical adviser, show how scientists believed it was "likely" that COVID accidentally leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan.
However, experts were concerned that debate on the matter would harm science in China, the Telegraph reports.
The email, sent by Sir Jeremy Farrar of the Wellcome Trust on 2 February 2020, said it was a "likely explanation" that coronavirus had evolved from a SARS-like virus inside human issue inside a laboratory.
The note, also sent to Dr Francis Collins of the US National Institutes of Health, added that the virus may have been "accidentally created" and "primed for rapid transmission between humans".
Wuhan Institute of Virology in China
Wuhan Institute of Virology in ChinaReuters
However, Sir Jeremy was then told that "further debate would do unnecessary harm to science in general and science in China in particular".
Dr Collins said it could impact "international harmony" if discussed further, according to the newspaper.
COVID-19 first emerged in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, with great debate since emerging about the origins of the virus.
In another email sent in April 2020, seen by the New York Post, Dr Fauci dismissed the theory that the virus emerged from a laboratory in China, calling it a "shiny object that will go away".