This is the evidence researchers say could settle the COVID-19 lab leak debate

The theory that the coronavirus escaped from a Chinese lab located in Wuhan has attracted renewed interest.

On one side of the debate are infectious disease experts who argue that the virus is a product of “zoonotic spillover,” or the process in nature when a pathogen travels from animals to humans, with some virologists reporting last year that it was a close relative of a virus found in horseshoe bats. On the other side of the debate are the scientists calling for a close investigation into the theory that the coronavirus could have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where some researchers specialize in the study of coronaviruses found in bats.