Former prime minister Boris Johnson has said he believes the Covid pandemic was caused by a leak from a laboratory in China, and did not originate in unsanitary conditions in a Wuhan market. He joins Donald Trump in dismissing evidence suggesting that the virus was transmitted “zoonotically” from infected animals.

Boris Johnson has claimed in his new book that he now believes the Covid pandemic began with a leak from a Chinese laboratory, in a u-turn on previous comments

Boris Johnson has said he is “no longer sure” lockdowns played a decisive role in defeating Covid. Describing the pandemic restrictions as “ literally medieval in their savagery and consequences ”, he likened himself to King Canute and questioned whether it was possible for government action to “repel the waves of a highly contagious disease”.