Top U.S. scientist and former head of the White House COVID-19 response team, Anthony Fauci, has admitted that social distancing, mask mandates, and other COVID-19 prevention measures were invented during the peak of the pandemic.

Mr Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, made this revelation on Monday while being quizzed by Republican lawmakers on the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his testimony, Mr Fauci said the six-foot social-distancing rules, masking and other protocols he recommended as preventive measures for the virus were made up and “sort of just appeared,” the Toronto Sun reported.

Mr Fauci noted that he “was not aware of studies” supporting social distancing and that admitting such studies “would be very difficult”.
He also said he has not studied any research about the impact of the mask mandate on children.

Speaking on the origin of the virus, Mr Fauci said the virus could be a lab leak, supporting the longstanding theory in the media since the outbreak of the virus that COVID began with a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in the Hubei province in China.

“I think people have made conspiracy aspects from it,” he said, adding, “It could be a lab leak,” Toronto Sun reported, citing the committee transcripts from the hearing on Monday.

He continued: “So I think that in and of itself isn’t inherently a conspiracy theory, but some people spin off things from that that are kind of crazy.”

“You know, I don’t recall. It sort of just appeared,” Mr Fauci said.