Scientists in the U.S. and Australia who publicly oppose the COVID-19 lab-leak theory are facing political pressure, anonymous threatening letters accompanied by bullets and consequences at work, Global Times reported on Monday.

Peter Daszak, a scientist who took part in the World Health Organization's origin tracing and is also president of the EcoHealth Alliance based in the U.S., was recused from the UN-backed commission work on the origins of the pandemic, Global Times reported. Daszak said after the field trip in China that the lab leak theory is "impossible."

According to the paper, a source close to the matter said that a "U.S. scientist is being personally threatened by emails, phone calls and messages on social media, and people who attacked him generally have far-right and even white supremacist leanings. GOP members of Congress are whipping those extremists up now."

"There is a coordinated political campaign to undermine anyone involved in the origins work if they do not fit the lab leak narrative. This is coming mainly from the right-wing circles in the U.S., Australia, and in Europe, mainly the UK," the source told Global Times.

Australian evolutionary biologist Edward Holmes at the University of Sydney is being probed by the Australian government after he released an open letter last April stating there was no evidence the COVID-19 virus originated in a lab in Wuhan, Global Times reported.

"He was threatened that if he continued expressing opinions on the origins of the virus, he may face even further crackdown," the paper quoted a source as saying, adding that Holmes has also received a number of threatening letters accompanied by real bullets.

Due to the pressure, Holmes has reportedly been undergoing therapy and is unable to carry out regular scientific research work.

Global Times said Holmes did not reply to an inquiry before the article was published. But after the article was published, a media adviser for the University of Sydney sent an email to Global Times insisting he had spoken to the professor about the issue and denying the content about Holmes, the newspaper said.

Global Times added it also received an email later that appeared to be sent from Holmes' account that denied the part about him.

More scientists have stepped out and spoken about their disagreements with the lab leak theory.

Danielle Anderson, the only foreign scientist to have worked at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, said in a Bloomberg report on June 28 that no one she knew at the institute got ill by the end of 2019, refuting the Wall Street Journal's claim that three researchers from the lab were hospitalized with flu-like symptoms in November 2019.

She said the institute has the highest biosafety level with extremely strict procedures.

Anderson was last in Wuhan in November 2019 when, it is now believed by Wall Street Journal, the virus was beginning to spread. She refuted the claims that scientists in the institute got ill and she would have known if it was true.

Her statements to oppose lab leak theory have angered the conspiracy theorists who sent vicious emails to her, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Sunday.

She is also concerned about the Australian book "What Really Happened in Wuhan" by journalist Sharri Markson, who has allegedly "unearthed" video showing scientists with bats working at the Wuhan lab, according to the report.

"To my knowledge, that was a video made several years ago to promote the lab," Anderson said.

According to Anderson, there are many labs working with bats and have bat colonies in multiple countries. "The last such meeting that I attended was in Colorado, USA," she told The Sydney Morning Herald.

She commented on the so-called unearthed video, saying: "This is just rubbish… It's crazy and it gives the public a terrible impression of scientists."

"My opinion is based on the evidence I have in front of me, and my collective research background. Virology training is my background and I am using that to make my decisions, not a politician saying, 'This is what we should think.'"

Massimo Galli, director of Infectious Diseases at Milan's Luigi Sacco Hospital, said: "I really find it hard to think that if something escaped from a laboratory it would be this difficult to prove that concept. Among other things, it is an unknown virus that has no signs of genetic engineering inside," Italian news agency Adnkronos reported on June 22.