(Photo: sciencemag.org)

Public health scientists on Wednesday strongly condemned conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.

The theories were debunked in an article in Lancet, one of the world's leading general medical journals, and the scientists lauded China’s efforts to fight against the epidemic since the coronavirus outbreak.

The article pointed out that scientists from multiple countries have published and analyzed genomes of the causative agent that counter the conspiracy theories and they overwhelmingly concluded that this coronavirus originated in wildlife.

"Conspiracy theories do nothing but create fear, rumors, and prejudice that jeopardize our global collaboration in the fight against this virus", said their statement.