We know that China made a mess of the first phase of the pandemic. There was a huge new years party in Wuhan and an uncontrolled outbreak. That was in the news at the time, but someone then put the story about a lab excursion out which is probably untrue and this has been a key focus of discussions since.

To me this is like a magician distracting the audiences attention from the gold penny - you are all looking in the wrong place while the real issue is being forgotten.