Leading Western experts believed a lab leak was the 'likely' origin of Covid but were silenced because it could cause harm to Chinese scientists, bombshell emails show.
Sir Jeremy Farrar, who publicly denounced the theory as a 'conspiracy', admitted in a private email in February 2020 that a 'likely explanation' was that the virus was man-made.
The then-UK Government adviser said at the time he was '70:30 or 60:40' in favour of an accidental release versus natural origin.
In the email, sent to US health chiefs Dr Anthony Fauci and Dr Francis Collins, Sir Jeremy said it was possible Covid had been evolved from a Sars-like virus in the lab.
He went on that this seemingly benign process may have 'accidentally created a virus primed for rapid transmission between humans'.
But the British scientist was shut down by his counterparts in the US who warned further debate about the origins of the virus could damage 'international harmony'.
He was told by other scientists with links to virus manipulation research that it could cause 'unnecessary harm to science in general and science in China in particular'.
Sir Jeremy claimed in his emails that other respected scientists also believed the virus could not have emerged naturally.
Names included Professor Mike Farzan, the Harvard researcher who first discovered how the original Sars virus binds to human cells.
Despite his concerns, Sir Jeremy went on to sign letters in The Lancet a fortnight later denouncing anyone who believed in the lab leak theory as bigoted.
Critics slammed the 'lack of openness and transparency' and accused Western scientists of shutting down debate about Covid's origin for political reasons.
Sir Jeremy Farrar (right), director of the Welcome Trust, told US health chief Dr Anthony Fauci (left) in an email in February 2020 that a 'likely explanation' for the virus' origins is that it evolved in human tissue in a lab
Other respected experts including Professor Mike Farzan, who first discovered how the original Sars virus binds to human cells, also claimed the virus could not have evolved naturally, according to Sir Jeremy's email
![Dr Francis Collins, the US National Institutes of Health director at the time, hit back at the claims immediately, claiming entertaining the theory would allow 'the voices of conspiracy [to] quickly dominate'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/01/12/10/52833169-10393581-image-a-71_1641983855345.jpg)
Dr Francis Collins, the US National Institutes of Health director at the time, hit back at the claims immediately, claiming entertaining the theory would allow 'the voices of conspiracy [to] quickly dominate'
Pictured: The Wuhan Institute of Virology, where some believe the virus may have been accidentally leaked from
Dr Ron Fouchier of Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, manipulated the H5N1 bird flu strain to be able to jump between ferrets in 2011
One of the Western scientists who silenced Sir Jeremy's email warning of Covid's 'likely' unnatural origins has been involved in controversial gain of function research.
Dr Ron Fouchier of Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, manipulated the H5N1 bird flu strain to be able to jump between ferrets in 2011.
The strain is currently wreaking havoc on Europe's bird and mammal populations and infected the first British human ever last week.
His study — co-authored by Professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and the University of Tokyo — raised fears the virus would be better equipped to jump to humans at the time.
It was initially banned from being published, before later appearing in a peer-reviewed journal.
However, US officials shut down the gain of function research in 2014, immediately calling off funding for 18 proposed studies on SARS, MERS and influenza.
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In Sir Jeremy's initial email, he revealed his and other experts' main suspicions centred around Covid's unique furin cleavage site
