At the beginning of 2020, it was known about the human-made Covid

Scientists believed Covid leaked from Wuhan lab - but feared debate
could hurt ‘international harmony’ Emails to Dr Anthony Fauci show
‘likely’ explanation identified at start of coronavirus pandemic, but
there were worries about saying so (https://bit.ly/3tEbKh1).
Leading British and US scientists thought it was likely that Covid
accidentally leaked from a laboratory but were concerned that
further debate would harm science in China, emails show.
An email from Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, on
February 2 2020 said that “a likely explanation” was that Covid had
rapidly evolved from a Sars-like virus inside human tissue in
a low-security lab.
The email, to Dr Anthony Fauci and Dr Francis Collins of the US
National Institutes of Health, went on to say that such evolution
may have “accidentally created a virus primed for rapid
transmission between humans”.
But a leading scientist told Sir Jeremy that “further debate would
do unnecessary harm to science in general and science in China
in particular”. Dr Collins, the former director of the US National
Institutes of Health, warned it could damage “international
harmony”.
Viscount Ridley, co-author of Viral: the search for the origin of
Covid, said: “These emails show a lamentable lack of openness
and transparency among Western scientists who appear to have
been more interested in shutting down a hypothesis they thought
was very plausible, for political reasons.”
In the emails, Sir Jeremy said that other scientists also believed
the virus could not have evolved naturally. One such scientist was
Professor Mike Farzan, of Scripps Research, the expert who
discovered how the original Sars virus binds to human cells.
Scientists were particularly concerned by a part of Covid-19 called
the furin cleavage site, a section of the spike protein which helps
it enter cells and makes it so infectious to humans.
Summarising Professor Farzan’s concerns in an email, Sir Jeremy
said: “He is bothered by the furin site and has a hard time (to)
explain that as an event outside the lab, though there are possible
ways in nature but highly unlikely.
“I think this becomes a question of how do you put all this
together, whether you believe in this series of coincidences, what
you know of the lab in Wuhan, how much could be in nature -
accidental release or natural event? I am 70:30 or 60:40.”
Later emails showed that by February 4, Sir Jeremy had revised his
estimate of a laboratory leak to 50:50, while Professor Eddie
Holmes, of the University of Sydney, gave a 60:40 estimate in
favour of an accidental release.
The emails also show that Bob Garry, of the University of Texas,
was unconvinced that Covid-19 emerged naturally.
“I just can’t figure out how this gets accomplished in nature,”
he said.
Professor Andrew Rambaut, from the University of Edinburgh, also
said that furin cleavage site “strikes me as unusual”.
He added: “I think the only people with sufficient information or
access to samples to address it would be the teams working in
Wuhan.”
The new details came to light after members of the US Republican
House Oversight Committee were granted access to the documents,
after complaining that their content had been heavily redacted when
released under Freedom of Information requests.