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The lab leak theory holds that SARS-2 was created or manipulated into existence in the Wuhan Institute of Virology and escaped from the lab, whether deliberately or by accident.

They will test whether animals currently carry SARS‐CoV‑2 or have antibodies to it, indicating a past infection.

It could have played out differently, as shown by the outbreak of SARS, a genetic relative of COVID-19, nearly 20 years ago.

Then, in April 2003, researchers reported that the deadly, atypical pneumonia spreading through China, soon to be called SARS, was caused by a coronavirus.

After the SARS-1 pandemic of 2003, many survivors reported long-term mental health problems and chronic fatigue, symptoms of which were largely dismissed.