We could rule out 80% of the options and still have 99% of the work yet to be completed.
Like if we’re looking for a bacteria on the land surface of the earth, and we rule out 80% of the options, that leaves us with searching an area the size of Africa for a microscopic life form.
The article says "78% of places have been searched"... but that's a really weirdly imprecise way of saying that. What are "places" here? Like, the sphere out to 100 AU is 78% of the volume out to 120 AU... but that makes no sense, the possible locations go out to 1000 AU or more.
There are indeed lots of claims of some evidence for another planet existing... but all those claims are different with no consensus, and it's largely fairly specious proposals trying to get some funding.