Original sentence: A few individuals, including a small number of virologists, have claimed, without direct evidence, that the virus may have leaked from the Institute, and called for further investigations into the matter.Early in the pandemic, conspiracy theories spread on social media claiming that the virus was bio-engineered by China at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, amplified by echo chambers in the American far-right
Edited sentence: A few individuals, including some virologists, have claimed without direct evidence, that the virus may have accidentally escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and called for further investigations into the matter