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You sound like a knowledgeable chap.....got another one for you..
Given the way that COVID-19 mutates so rapidly, does that increase the likelihood that it was a strain of COVID manipulated in a lab (eg combined with 1 or 2 other strains....or whatever, Im no scientist) which subsequently leaked? making it more adaptable?
I would almost prefer that to it being a regular strain we caught from bats or what-not.
All viruses mutate. It's why we need annual flu shots.
When any individual catches a virus it starts to multiply in the body and attack other cells. Effectively this multiplication is cells reproducing and splitting (as like when a baby starts as a single cell upon insemination and then multiplies). Every time a cell multiplies, there is a very very small chance it doesn't perfectly replicate and the new cell is slightly different to the one it is multiplies from. This is effectively genetic mutation. Viruses often mutate and present very little difference to the original, but sometimes that mutation is significantly large that it produces different characteristics - often ones that weaken the virus, sometimes ones that make it worse.
Mutation happens in the body all of the time, and can be replicated in the lab. But if you think how many people have COVID (millions) vs the number of scientists experimenting with it, then I would suggest the odds of these mutations being related to a leak from a lab are much higher than a million to one.