There is no evidence that the novel coronavirus behind the COVID-19 pandemic was created in a lab, and none of the lab leak claims "hold up to scientific scrutiny," a virologist with the University of Glasgow has said.

The lab leak theory "offers no evidence other than the circumstantial location of the Wuhan Institute of Virology," which is located in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, David Robertson, head of viral genomics and bioinformatics of the Scottish university, told Xinhua in an email interview recently.