The content of the book, titled ‘Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19’, was previewed by one of its co-authors, Matt Ridley, in the Daily Mail. The tabloid posited that its authors would offer evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic could have started as a “laboratory leak of a possibly engineered coronavirus” followed by a “cover-up of epic proportions”. The article came days after US intelligence declassified its own assessment of the origins of the disease. The report from the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the opinions of the “internet sleuths” behind the book differ...