Dr Anthony Fauci denies links with China's Wuhan Institute, says email leak 'misconstrued'

After Dr. Anthony Fauci's emails on origins of COVID-19 and mask-wearing created a massive row in US, top expert denied allegations that h stemmed from his email exchange with US-based EcoHealth Alliance calling it 'nonsense.' 

Earlier this week, several US media outlets released thousands of emails of Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 2020 during rise of unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic across globe. 

In one such email, an executive at EcoHealth which funded research at China's Wuhan Institute of Virology into COVID-19 origin thanked Dr. Fauci for publicly stating that scientific evidence supports a 'natural origin for Coronavirus and not a lab leak.' This sparked concerns on relationship between top medical expert in US and Wuhan Institute.

Denying any connections, Dr. Fauci while speaking to CNN said, "That's nonsense. I don't even see how y get that from that email. I have always said, and will say today, that I still believe most likely origin is from an animal species to a human, but I keep an absolutely open mind that if re may be or origins of that, re may be anor reason, it could have been a lab leak from China."

Dr. Anthony Fauci maintained that over course of 2020-21, out of 10,000 emails that h surfaced from time period, several new pieces of information h come up and several of his statement h been redacted after newer research into Coronavirus. 

"You can misconstrue it however you want -- that email was from a person to me saying 'thank you' for whatever it is he thought I said, and I said that I think most likely origin is a jumping of species. I still do think it is, at same time as I'm keeping an open mind that it might be a lab leak," Dr Fauci stated. 

ditionally, Dr Fauci's alleged flip-flop on importance of wearing masks also courted controversy. In Fauci email under criticism, American physician has said that face masks were best for infected people to stop m from spreing COVID-19 and was "not really effective" in keeping virus out for someone who h not been infected.

Clarifying his stance Dr. Fauci said, "Let's get real here -- if you look at scientific information as it accumulates, what is going on in January and February, what you know as a fact, as data, guides what you tell people and your policies. If March, April, May occur, you accumulate a lot more information and you modify and just your opinion and your recommendation based on current science and current data."