On May 26, President Joe Biden ordered the US intelligence community to report back to him in 90 days on the origin of COVID-19. Now halfway towards the deadline, the country is criticized by public opinions and health experts across the globe as it attempts to fabricate an origin of the virus with the "lab leak" theory that is now collapsing.

Following their strong condemnation of conspiracy theories in The Lancet last February, in a July 5 letter published in the medical journal, 24 health experts from around the world once again dismissed the lab-leak notion, as recent peer-reviewed studies strongly suggest that COVID-19 has a natural origin. "Science, not speculation, is essential to determine how SARS-Cov-2 reached humans", the letter said.

The advocates of the lab-leak theory are now overwhelmed by stronger voices of science and reason. On June 27, a Washington Post report quoted a US government official that "a 90-day review into the origins of the Covid-19 may not produce a definitive explanation" as "spy agencies conducting the review have yet to find conclusive evidence that would settle the debate over whether the virus came from human contact with an infected animal or was leaked from a Chinese virology lab".

This reminds me of a line from Chairman Mao – "Some people in the US are just too arrogant. They are unreasonable wherever they can be. If they are being a little reasonable, it's because they are forced to".

Political tricks won't obstruct the call for scientific origin tracing

The laws of science must be observed, and rigorous, fact-based researches must be carried out in tracing the origin of COVID-19. Origin tracing for HIV/AIDS and SARS are still underway up till present. Given the lack of knowledge on COVID-19 and inadequate research capacity, tracing the origin of the novel coronavirus may entail a much lengthier period of time. Ninety days won't suffice, and that's for sure.