COVID's origins: what we do and don't know

Marietjie Venter; Jean-Claude Manuguerra; John M Watson; Thea K Fischer; Stuart D Blacksell; Kathrina Summermatter; Inger K Damon; Christian Drosten; Phillip Alviola; Abdullah Assiri; Elmoubasher Farag; Raman Gangakhedkar; Nada Ghosn; Maria G Guzman; Christian Happi; Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka; Normand Labbé; Khin Myint; Hung Nguyen-Viet; Chinwe Ochu; Masayuki Saijo; Rosemary Sang; Supaporn Wacharapluesadee

doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00530-y

COVID's origins: what we do and don't know

Marietjie Venter^*, Jean-Claude Manuguerra, John M Watson, Thea K Fischer, Stuart D Blacksell, Kathrina Summermatter, Inger K Damon, Christian Drosten, Phillip Alviola, Abdullah Assiri, Elmoubasher Farag, Raman Gangakhedkar, Nada Ghosn, Maria G Guzman, Christian Happi, Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Normand Labbé, Khin Myint, Hung Nguyen-Viet, Chinwe OchuMasayuki Saijo, Rosemary Sang, Supaporn Wacharapluesadee

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Clinical Research

Abstract

Researchers summarize key insights from the world’s first comprehensive investigation into how a pandemic started.

Original language	English
Journal	Nature
Volume	650
Issue number	8103
Pages (from-to)	829-833
Number of pages	5
ISSN	0028-0836
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00530-y
Publication status	Published - Feb 2026

Keywords

Politics
SARS-CoV-2
Vaccines
Virology

Access to Document

10.1038/d41586-026-00530-y

Cite this

Venter, M., Manuguerra, J.-C., Watson, J. M., Fischer, T. K., Blacksell, S. D., Summermatter, K., Damon, I. K., Drosten, C., Alviola, P., Assiri, A., Farag, E., Gangakhedkar, R., Ghosn, N., Guzman, M. G., Happi, C., Kalema-Zikusoka, G., Labbé, N., Myint, K., Nguyen-Viet, H., ... Wacharapluesadee, S. (2026). COVID's origins: what we do and don't know. Nature, 650(8103), 829-833. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00530-y

Venter, M, Manuguerra, J-C, Watson, JM, Fischer, TK, Blacksell, SD, Summermatter, K, Damon, IK, Drosten, C, Alviola, P, Assiri, A, Farag, E, Gangakhedkar, R, Ghosn, N, Guzman, MG, Happi, C, Kalema-Zikusoka, G, Labbé, N, Myint, K, Nguyen-Viet, H, Ochu, C, Saijo, M, Sang, R & Wacharapluesadee, S 2026, 'COVID's origins: what we do and don't know', Nature, vol. 650, no. 8103, pp. 829-833. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00530-y

@article{44ceb14a75e140f5907d97c1402d70e1,

title = "COVID's origins: what we do and don't know",

abstract = "Researchers summarize key insights from the world{\textquoteright}s first comprehensive investigation into how a pandemic started.",

keywords = "Politics, SARS-CoV-2, Vaccines, Virology",

author = "Marietjie Venter and Jean-Claude Manuguerra and Watson, \{John M\} and Fischer, \{Thea K\} and Blacksell, \{Stuart D\} and Kathrina Summermatter and Damon, \{Inger K\} and Christian Drosten and Phillip Alviola and Abdullah Assiri and Elmoubasher Farag and Raman Gangakhedkar and Nada Ghosn and Guzman, \{Maria G\} and Christian Happi and Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka and Normand Labb{\'e} and Khin Myint and Hung Nguyen-Viet and Chinwe Ochu and Masayuki Saijo and Rosemary Sang and Supaporn Wacharapluesadee",

year = "2026",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1038/d41586-026-00530-y",

language = "English",

volume = "650",

pages = "829--833",

journal = "Nature",

issn = "0028-0836",

publisher = "Nature Research",

number = "8103",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - COVID's origins

T2 - what we do and don't know

AU - Venter, Marietjie

AU - Manuguerra, Jean-Claude

AU - Watson, John M

AU - Fischer, Thea K

AU - Blacksell, Stuart D

AU - Summermatter, Kathrina

AU - Damon, Inger K

AU - Drosten, Christian

AU - Alviola, Phillip

AU - Assiri, Abdullah

AU - Farag, Elmoubasher

AU - Gangakhedkar, Raman

AU - Ghosn, Nada

AU - Guzman, Maria G

AU - Happi, Christian

AU - Kalema-Zikusoka, Gladys

AU - Labbé, Normand

AU - Myint, Khin

AU - Nguyen-Viet, Hung

AU - Ochu, Chinwe

AU - Saijo, Masayuki

AU - Sang, Rosemary

AU - Wacharapluesadee, Supaporn

PY - 2026/2

Y1 - 2026/2

N2 - Researchers summarize key insights from the world’s first comprehensive investigation into how a pandemic started.

AB - Researchers summarize key insights from the world’s first comprehensive investigation into how a pandemic started.

KW - Politics

KW - SARS-CoV-2

KW - Vaccines

KW - Virology

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105031162362

U2 - 10.1038/d41586-026-00530-y

DO - 10.1038/d41586-026-00530-y

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 41735634

SN - 0028-0836

VL - 650

SP - 829

EP - 833

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

IS - 8103

ER -

COVID's origins: what we do and don't know

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this