According to a report, published by the China Economic Net on Friday, World-renowned medical journal The Lancet published an online statement in February rejecting claims that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin and condemning related "bioweapon" conspiracy theories. Scientists from multiple countries have analysed genomes of the causative agent and "overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife, as have so many other emerging pathogens," said the statement. The 27 health experts said that "the rapid, open, and transparent sharing of data on this outbreak is now being threatened by rumours and misinformation around its origins." -- Origin of COVID-19 still unknown, not necessarily in China The renowned respiratory expert Zhong Nanshanhe said the epidemic first appeared in China but did not necessarily originate from China. The World Health Organization (WHO) had made it clearly on several occasions that using COVID-19 as the name of the novel coronavirus disease was to prevent the use of other names that can be stigmatizing, such as those based on geographical location. The spread of the virus is a global issue and the work to track the source of the coronavirus is still underway, according to a daily briefing of the organization. -- Outbreak epicenter and virus origin may not be the same The 1918 Spanish influenza claimed between 50 million and 100 million lives worldwide. To maintain wartime morale, fewer cases were reported in belligerent countries, which created a false impression of neutral Spain as especially hard hit. That's how the epidemic came to be called the "Spanish flu," according to Galvin J's published book "Spanish Flu Pandemic: 1918." However, no precise data exists to confirm the origin of the epidemic. Moreover, the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus, which lasted from early 2009 to late 2010, was widely known by the large number of confirmed cases in the United States. But based on scientific research and data tracking, the swine flu virus began in human beings in Mexico, according to an article "From where did the 2009 'swine-origin' influenza A virus (H1N1) emerge?" published in Virology Journal in 2009.