The researchers “found traces of a unique variant of coronavirus while examining DNA from soil from Antarctica that had been sent to the firm Sangon Biotech in Shanghai,” reports the Daily Mail.

Genetic material from Chinese hamsters and green monkeys was also discovered, “which may suggest the virus was being examined in a lab, using either the animals themselves or their cells,” according to the report.

Viscount Ridley said that such evidence bolsters the theory that the virus accidentally escaped or was leaked from the Wuhan lab deliberately.