It was not genetically modified for use as a bioweapon
The mutations don’t resemble other well-known and well-characterized pathogenicity mutations too closely, in sequence or location
It probably wasn’t cultured as cell-culture in a lab-setting for an extended period
The virus was not notable to science prior to this event
Or in other words, it doesn’t look planned. Its most recent mutations look much more like a “natural variation let it jump species” sort of situation.
This doesn’t address situations like, for example, “dead bats with a wild-type virus being left near a bunch of ferrets or pangolins,” or something to that effect.
(ETA: Or… accidental release like this is still possible.)
What exactly does “lab-strain” mean here? Does it means a strain with a already published sequence?
More specifically:
It was not genetically modified for use as a bioweapon
The mutations don’t resemble other well-known and well-characterized pathogenicity mutations too closely, in sequence or location
It probably wasn’t cultured as cell-culture in a lab-setting for an extended period
The virus was not notable to science prior to this event
Or in other words, it doesn’t look planned. Its most recent mutations look much more like a “natural variation let it jump species” sort of situation.
This doesn’t address situations like, for example, “dead bats with a wild-type virus being left near a bunch of ferrets or pangolins,” or something to that effect.
(ETA: Or… accidental release like this is still possible.)