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COVID-19 Origins Investigation

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Ongoing investigation into the origins of COVID-19, including examination of lab research funding, scientific communications, and government testimonies regarding the pandemic's source.

12
2 reported locations
Geography of the reported facts
  1. Wuhan Shi, Hubei, China
  2. Washington, District of Columbia, United States

The story so far

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2026-08-14 to 2026-11-11 · UTC publication dates

29documented facts ↓10related articles ↓

Coverage begins 29 Jul, 08:19 UTC

Follow the documented timeline or explore the related reporting.

What happened

The facts

  1. NIAID issued grants to Wuhan Institute of Virology for coronavirus research

    The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under Anthony Fauci's leadership, issued multiple grants to researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology to support their work making novel coronaviruses that could more easily spread in humans. This research involved gain-of-function experiments in which viruses are manipulated in laboratory settings to become more virulent or transmissible.

    1 corroborating report

  2. Fauci's diary entries indicate awareness of possible lab-created COVID-19

    Diary entries from Anthony Fauci dated January 31 and February 1, 2020, show he took seriously the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 was engineered rather than naturally occurring. Fauci convened a call with experts on February 1, 2020, to discuss whether the virus was natural or man-made. Notes from that call show that all but two researchers 'felt that deliberate insertion' of the furin cleavage site 'was possible.' Fauci's February 1 entry specifically referenced researcher Zheng-Li Shi's gain-of-function work on coronaviruses at the University of Wuhan, noting that 'we could not let this go.'

    1 corroborating report

  3. Senator Rand Paul directed Fauci's attorney to leave the hearing room

    During the Senate hearing, Senator Rand Paul ordered one of Fauci's attorneys to leave the hearing room after the attorney attempted to provide testimony on behalf of his client despite not being a recognized witness before the committee.

    1 corroborating report

  4. Fauci denied NIAID funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan during 2021 Senate testimony

    During Senate committee hearings in May and July 2021, Anthony Fauci testified that the National Institutes of Health had never funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. When questioned about NIAID support for research describing how novel coronaviruses were made in the Wuhan lab to infect human lung cells, Fauci stated 'You do not know what you are talking about' and emphasized that such research did not qualify for enhanced scrutiny under the government's vetting system.

    1 corroborating report

  5. President Biden issued preemptive pardon to Fauci covering federal crimes from 2014-2025

    President Joe Biden granted a full pardon to Anthony Fauci before leaving office in January 2025, covering any federal crimes he may have committed during a ten-year period from 2014 through 2025. The pardon covers the entire COVID-19 pandemic period and preceding years, protecting Fauci from federal prosecution or charges related to his conduct during that timeframe.

    1 corroborating report

  6. Proximal Origin paper authors privately expressed doubt about published conclusions

    The authors of the 'Proximal Origin' paper, which dismissed the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 was engineered, privately expressed lower confidence in their conclusions than the published version indicated. Slack messages from co-author Kristian Andersen showed he had less confidence in the statement 'there's no way' the virus was engineered than the paper suggested. Andersen had been one of the researchers who first contacted Fauci in January 2020 about the possibility that the furin cleavage site had been deliberately inserted.

    1 corroborating report

  7. Anthony Fauci invokes Fifth Amendment at Senate hearing on COVID origins

    Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination while appearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Committee chaired by Senator Rand Paul. Fauci refused to answer questions about gain-of-function research that NIAID funded at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and its potential role in the COVID-19 pandemic origins. Fauci cited Paul's stated intention to prosecute him and his recent public release of Fauci's personal diary as reasons for invoking the Fifth Amendment protection.

    1 corroborating report

  8. Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked Fifth Amendment at Senate hearing on COVID-19 origins

    Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a Senate hearing on July 29, 2026. The hearing, chaired by Sen. Rand Paul, focused on COVID-19 origins and pandemic handling. Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during the hearing.

    1 corroborating report

  9. Dr. David Morens, Fauci's former senior advisor, indicted on federal charges

    Dr. David Morens, who served as a senior advisor to Dr. Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was indicted on multiple federal criminal counts including conspiracy, obstruction, and destruction, alteration or falsification of federal records. The charges also include allegations that personal email accounts were used to evade Freedom of Information Act requests. Morens has pleaded not guilty to all five federal criminal counts.

    1 corroborating report

  10. President Biden issued preemptive pardon to Dr. Anthony Fauci

    President Joe Biden issued a preemptive pardon to Dr. Anthony Fauci during his final days in office to protect him from potential criminal prosecution related to his work at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH). The pardon covers both past and future criminal charges related to his NIH work.

    1 corroborating report

  11. Sen. Rand Paul released over 1,000 pages of Fauci's personal diary entries

    Sen. Rand Paul publicly released more than 1,000 pages of Dr. Anthony Fauci's personal diary entries documenting his response to the COVID-19 pandemic in real-time. The diary entries included notes from January 26, 2020, discussing whether the Wuhan market was the source of the virus, and entries from February 2020 recording disagreement among U.S. and international health experts about the virus's origins.

    1 corroborating report

  12. Sen. Rand Paul and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attempted to pursue perjury charges against Fauci

    Sen. Rand Paul, after becoming chairman of a major Senate Committee, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attempted to bring perjury charges against Dr. Anthony Fauci. Kennedy Jr. claimed that many statements made by Fauci were false and that if he made false statements again under oath, he could be subject to perjury prosecution.

    1 corroborating report

  13. Trump administration announces new oversight rules for gain-of-function research

    On July 28, 2026, the Trump administration announced new rules to tighten oversight of gain-of-function research. This followed Trump's previous pause on some federally funded gain-of-function research announced last year.

    1 corroborating report

  14. Fauci's journals document natural origin theory for COVID-19 pandemic

    In his released personal journals, Dr. Fauci wrote that an open-air market in Wuhan, China likely amplified the spread of the virus but was not its source. Fauci documented his belief that the virus jumped from animals to humans naturally and was not leaked from a research laboratory in Wuhan. He stated publicly that he does not rule out other possible origins for the pandemic.

    1 corroborating report

  15. Dr. Anthony Fauci invokes Fifth Amendment at Senate hearing on COVID-19

    Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on July 29, 2026. Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during the hearing, including when asked basic factual questions unrelated to COVID-19 policy. In his opening statement, Fauci cited Chairman Sen. Rand Paul's long history of calling for his prosecution, stating that Paul's sole purpose in calling the hearing was to get him to make a false statement that could be used against him.

    1 corroborating report

  16. GOP subcommittee finds no evidence of Fauci wrongdoing in 2024 study

    A Republican-led subcommittee that studied the question of NIH-funded research in China in 2024 did not find any evidence linking Fauci to wrongdoing.

    1 corroborating report

  17. Health Secretary RFK Jr. suggests Fauci might commit perjury at hearing

    Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Monday that his department provided the diary entries, created on a government computer, to the Senate committee. Kennedy told Fox News he thought Fauci might lie before the committee, which could expose him to perjury prosecution despite his preemptive pardon from former President Biden.

    1 corroborating report

  18. Sen. Paul alleges Fauci approved gain-of-function research funding in Wuhan

    Sen. Rand Paul contended during the Senate hearing that Dr. Fauci helped produce the COVID-19 pandemic by approving funding for virus mutation research and then covered up his complicity. Paul built a case that Fauci approved research on virus mutations at a lab in Wuhan. The NIH had for years given grants to EcoHealth Alliance, which used funds to work with a Chinese lab studying coronaviruses carried by bats. Fauci previously stressed he was using the definition of gain-of-function covering risky experiments and that it would be molecularly impossible for those bat virus experiments to have produced the pandemic virus.

    1 corroborating report

  19. Sen. Rand Paul releases over 1,000 pages of Fauci's personal COVID-19 journals

    Sen. Rand Paul released more than 1,000 pages of Dr. Anthony Fauci's personal journals covering the COVID-19 pandemic years on July 28, 2026, the day before the Senate hearing. In a social media post, Paul claimed the journals demonstrate that what Fauci wrote privately differed from what he told the public. The released diary entries included Fauci's notes on early pandemic understanding and his discussions about the virus's origins, his public profile, and his relationship with President Trump.

    1 corroborating report

  20. Republican senators question Fauci on pandemic origins and public guidance

    Republican senators on the Senate Homeland Security Committee questioned Fauci on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and his pandemic guidance issued in 2020. Fauci was concerned about public perception that he was flip-flopping theories on the virus's origin. Sen. Josh Hawley asked Fauci basic questions such as what day of the week it was and the color of his tie, which Fauci also declined to answer by invoking the Fifth Amendment.

    1 corroborating report

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