It would have been an early clue that the virus could be transmitted among humans, yet Chinese authorities said that the virus was not transmissible for at least a month after they knew it was, allowing it to spread, according to David Asher, who led an investigation on COVID-19's origins and served in the State Department under Democrat and Republican presidents.

China reported in mid-January that the virus was transmissible among humans.

An individual who worked at the Wuhan Institute of Virology at the time provided the information on the lab researcher�s wife dying, according to Asher.

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The lab workers appear to have been more likely to have had COVID-19 than the flu, Asher said.

"How many normal people in their 30s-40s get so sick from influenza that they have to be hospitalized? Lab workers, I am told, are almost certainly getting flu shots.

"Moreover, what are the odds that several workers -- who happen to be the researchers on enhancing the pathogenicity of COV RaTG13 and associated COVS all fall very sick together?" Asher noted, referring to coronaviruses.