The IEA Book Club is delighted to host an upcoming event with renowned British journalist, businessman and author, Matt Ridley, on his latest book “Viral – The Search for the Origin of COVID 19”. This event is taking place on Wednesday 17^th November at the IEA and will be chaired by Mark Littlewood (IEA Director General).

Understanding how Covid-19 started is more important than we know for the future of humankind. Determining whether the virus came from nature or from a lab will help us to safeguard against the next pandemic. This disease will forever punctuate modern history. It has led to the deaths of millions, sickened hundreds of millions and affected the lives of almost every person on the planet.

We now know that Covid is here to stay. This book seeks to examine the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19. Viral is a fascinating account that takes in pangolins, horseshoe bats, internet sleuths and misleading scientific papers. It details the evidence and investigates hypotheses for the virus origin, chief among them a potential laboratory leak or a natural spillover.

Whatever the source of the virus, the world needs to adopt new policies and strategies to prevent or mitigate future outbreaks. Set in the caves and mineshafts, food markets and wildlife smugglers’ stores, laboratories and databases of China and elsewhere, Viral is a page-turner that reads like a detective novel and goes deeper into the deepest mystery of the day than any other work.

This event is exclusive to IEA Book Club members. To find out more about the IEA Book Club please follow the link here or contact us at bookclub@iea.org.uk