The Wuhan lab leak theory has recently been given new prominence thanks to a controversial book written by Australian journalist and Sky News commentator Sharri Markson. Today, writer and contributor to The Saturday Paper Linda Jaivin, examines the credibility of Markson’s claims, and explores how ideology has impacted our ability to get to the truth of how this pandemic first started.

As Australia grapples with new outbreaks of Covid-19, questions about the origins of the virus have been re-emerging. And at the G7 summit, world leaders formally discussed the controversial Wuhan lab-leak theory: the idea that the virus didn’t emerge naturally, but came out of a laboratory. Today, Linda Jaivin on what we know about the origins of Covid-19 and why conspiracies are flourishing.