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covid-19 leaked from a Chinese lab
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Why the Wuhan lab leak theory matters
If it turns out that the Wuhan Institute of Virology really was the epicenter of a once-in-a-century pandemic, the revelation would itself be a major political and scientific event.Synopsis
Covid outbreak started more than 1,000 miles from the bat habitat where similar viruses have been discovered, but just a stone’s throw from an important laboratory studying coronaviruses.
By Ross Douthat, New York Times
May 30, 2021, 10:42 AM IST
7
On Long Bets, a website where prognosticators test their mettle by playing for real (or at least proceeds-donated-to-charity) stakes, there is an open bet between British astrophysicist Martin Rees, a noted worrier over apocalyptic possibilities, and Harvard University’s Steven Pinker, famous for his vaulting optimism. For Rees to win, the following prediction must be vindicated: “A bioterror or bioerror will lead to one million casualties in a single event within a six-month period starting no later than Dec 31 2020.”
The bet was made for the 2017-20 period; you will notice that its time frame has expired. And yet it remains unsettled, pending a resolution of the question that the Western media has finally decided to take seriously: Did COVID-19 somehow escape accidentally from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, rather than leaping from bats or pangolins to its human Patient Zero?
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The Wuhan Institute of Virology was well known in the scientific community for its research on coronaviruses to defend against outbreaks like the SARS epidemic, first identified in China in 2002. But to some of the officials, some of whom worked in the State Department and the White House, the lab’s location in the same city where the coronavirus pandemic began was a troubling coincidence.
Over the course of the pandemic, the officials joined forces, searching for information that might show whether the pandemic had been sparked by reckless or sloppy research in the lab, several of the now-former officials and others aware of their work said in interviews. Their search was partly conducted by a State Department group under Secretary Mike Pompeo that had initially examined China’s compliance with international weapons treaties, and then turned its attention to the lab and evidence of suspected Chinese military activity there.
Over the course of the pandemic, the officials joined forces, searching for information that might show whether the pandemic had been sparked by reckless or sloppy research in the lab, several of the now-former officials and others aware of their work said in interviews. Their search was partly conducted by a State Department group under Secretary Mike Pompeo that had initially examined China’s compliance with international weapons treaties, and then turned its attention to the lab and evidence of suspected Chinese military activity there.
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Mystery still unsolved: What we know about the origins of Covid-19
- PUBLISHED
MAY 29, 2021, 11:12 AM SGT
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - Scientists are revisiting a central mystery of Covid-19: Where, when and how did the virus that causes the disease originate?
The two prevailing competing theories are that the virus jumped from animals, possibly originating with bats, to humans, or that it escaped from a virology laboratory in Wuhan, China.
The following is what is known about the virus' origins.
Why is the lab in Wuhan a focus of interest?
The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is a high-security research facility that studies pathogens in nature with the potential to infect humans with deadly and exotic new diseases.The lab has done extensive work on bat-borne viruses since the 2002 Sars-CoV-1 international outbreak, which began in China, killing 774 people worldwide.
The search for its origins led years later to discovery of SARS-like viruses in a southwest China bat cave.
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The institute collects genetic material from wildlife for experimentation at its Wuhan lab. Researchers experiment with live viruses in animals to gauge human susceptibility.
To reduce the risk of pathogens escaping accidentally, the facility is supposed to enforce rigorous safety protocols, such as protective garb and super air filtration. But even the strictest measures cannot eliminate such risks.
The Wuhan lab, China's leading Sars research facility, is not far from the Huanan Seafood Market, which early in the health crisis was cited as the most likely place where animal-to-human transmission of the virus may have taken place. The market was also the site of the first known Covid-19 superspreader event.
To some scientists, the release of a dangerous pathogen via a careless lab worker is a plausible hypothesis for how the pandemic started and warrants investigation.PHOTO: AFP
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - Scientists are revisiting a central mystery of Covid-19: Where, when and how did the virus that causes the disease originate?
The two prevailing competing theories are that the virus jumped from animals, possibly originating with bats, to humans, or that it escaped from a virology laboratory in Wuhan, China.
The following is what is known about the virus' origins.
The lab has done extensive work on bat-borne viruses since the 2002 Sars-CoV-1 international outbreak, which began in China, killing 774 people worldwide.
The search for its origins led years later to discovery of SARS-like viruses in a southwest China bat cave.
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The institute collects genetic material from wildlife for experimentation at its Wuhan lab. Researchers experiment with live viruses in animals to gauge human susceptibility.
To reduce the risk of pathogens escaping accidentally, the facility is supposed to enforce rigorous safety protocols, such as protective garb and super air filtration. But even the strictest measures cannot eliminate such risks.
The Wuhan lab, China's leading Sars research facility, is not far from the Huanan Seafood Market, which early in the health crisis was cited as the most likely place where animal-to-human transmission of the virus may have taken place. The market was also the site of the first known Covid-19 superspreader event.
Their proximity raised immediate suspicions, fuelled by the failure so far to identify any wildlife infected with the same viral lineage and compounded by the Chinese government's refusal to allow the lab-leak scenario to be fully investigated.
Scientists and others have developed hypotheses based on general concerns about the risks involved in live virus lab research, clues in the virus' genome, and information from studies by institute researchers.
Although the Wuhan lab's scientists have said they had no trace of Sars-CoV-2 in their inventory at the time, 24 researchers sent a letter to the World Health Organisation (WHO) urging a rigorous, independent investigation.
The WHO's first such mission to China this year failed to probe deeply enough, they wrote.
A US State Department fact sheet, released before the WHO mission in the waning days of the Trump Administration, alleged, without proof, that several WIV researchers had fallen sick with symptoms consistent with Covid-19 or common seasonal illnesses before the first publicly confirmed case in December 2019.
A May 5, story by Nicholas Wade in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said lab scientists experimenting on a virus sometimes insert a sequence called a "furin cleavage site" into its genome in a manner that makes the virus more infective.
David Baltimore, a Nobel Prize-winning virologist quoted in the article, said when he spotted the sequence in the Sars-CoV-2 genome, he felt he had found the smoking gun for the origin of the virus.
To reduce the risk of pathogens escaping accidentally, the facility is supposed to enforce rigorous safety protocols, such as protective garb and super air filtration. But even the strictest measures cannot eliminate such risks.
Why do some scientists suspect a laboratory accident?
To some scientists, the release of a dangerous pathogen via a careless lab worker is a plausible hypothesis for how the pandemic started and warrants investigation.The Wuhan lab, China's leading Sars research facility, is not far from the Huanan Seafood Market, which early in the health crisis was cited as the most likely place where animal-to-human transmission of the virus may have taken place. The market was also the site of the first known Covid-19 superspreader event.
Mystery still unsolved: What we know about the origins of Covid-19
- PUBLISHED
MAY 29, 2021, 11:12 AM SGT
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - Scientists are revisiting a central mystery of Covid-19: Where, when and how did the virus that causes the disease originate?
The two prevailing competing theories are that the virus jumped from animals, possibly originating with bats, to humans, or that it escaped from a virology laboratory in Wuhan, China.
The following is what is known about the virus' origins.
Why is the lab in Wuhan a focus of interest?
The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is a high-security research facility that studies pathogens in nature with the potential to infect humans with deadly and exotic new diseases.The lab has done extensive work on bat-borne viruses since the 2002 Sars-CoV-1 international outbreak, which began in China, killing 774 people worldwide.
The search for its origins led years later to discovery of SARS-like viruses in a southwest China bat cave.
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By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.
The institute collects genetic material from wildlife for experimentation at its Wuhan lab. Researchers experiment with live viruses in animals to gauge human susceptibility.
To reduce the risk of pathogens escaping accidentally, the facility is supposed to enforce rigorous safety protocols, such as protective garb and super air filtration. But even the strictest measures cannot eliminate such risks.
Why do some scientists suspect a laboratory accident?
To some scientists, the release of a dangerous pathogen via a careless lab worker is a plausible hypothesis for how the pandemic started and warrants investigation.The Wuhan lab, China's leading Sars research facility, is not far from the Huanan Seafood Market, which early in the health crisis was cited as the most likely place where animal-to-human transmission of the virus may have taken place. The market was also the site of the first known Covid-19 superspreader event.
Their proximity raised immediate suspicions, fuelled by the failure so far to identify any wildlife infected with the same viral lineage and compounded by the Chinese government's refusal to allow the lab-leak scenario to be fully investigated.
Scientists and others have developed hypotheses based on general concerns about the risks involved in live virus lab research, clues in the virus' genome, and information from studies by institute researchers.
Although the Wuhan lab's scientists have said they had no trace of Sars-CoV-2 in their inventory at the time, 24 researchers sent a letter to the World Health Organisation (WHO) urging a rigorous, independent investigation.
The WHO's first such mission to China this year failed to probe deeply enough, they wrote.
A US State Department fact sheet, released before the WHO mission in the waning days of the Trump Administration, alleged, without proof, that several WIV researchers had fallen sick with symptoms consistent with Covid-19 or common seasonal illnesses before the first publicly confirmed case in December 2019.
A May 5, story by Nicholas Wade in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said lab scientists experimenting on a virus sometimes insert a sequence called a "furin cleavage site" into its genome in a manner that makes the virus more infective.
David Baltimore, a Nobel Prize-winning virologist quoted in the article, said when he spotted the sequence in the Sars-CoV-2 genome, he felt he had found the smoking gun for the origin of the virus.
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What are the arguments for animal-to-human transmission?
Many scientists believe a natural origin is more likely and have seen no scientific evidence to support the lab leak theory.Dr Kristian G. Andersen, a scientist at Scripps Research who has done extensive work on coronaviruses, Ebola and other pathogens transmissible from animals to humans, said similar genomic sequences occur naturally in coronaviruses and are unlikely to be manipulated in the way Baltimore described for experimentation.
Scientists who favour the natural origins hypothesis have relied largely on history. Some of the most lethal new diseases of the past century have been traced to human interactions with wildlife and domestic animals, including the first Sars epidemic (bats), Mers-CoV (camels), Ebola (bats or non-human primates) and Nipah virus (bats).
While an animal source has not been identified so far, swabs of stalls in the wildlife section of the wildlife market in Wuhan after the outbreak tested positive, suggesting an infected animal or human handler.
Has new information emerged to lend credence to one theory over another?
The scientists' March 4 letter to the WHO refocused attention on the lab-leak scenario, but offered no new evidence.
Nor has definitive proof of a natural origin surfaced.
US President Joe Biden on May 26 said his national security staff does not believe there is sufficient information to assess one theory to be more likely than the other. He instructed intelligence officials to collect and analyse information that could close in on definitive conclusion and report back in 90 days.
PUBLISHED
MAY 29, 2021, 11:12 AM SGT
https://str.sg/3knF
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Not quite as nutty as yours, Appufeelinsore. I do not act like you n QAnon followers - to react solely on conspiracy theories. I’m neutral. I prefer to save my energy and vent when there is at least a valid concrete evidence.
‘The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge - Stephen Hawking’
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Could Trump be right after all?????
Trump contradicts US intel community by claiming he's seen evidence coronavirus originated in Chinese lab
By Zachary Cohen, Alex Marquardt, Kylie Atwood and Jim Acosta, CNN
Updated 0732 GMT (1532 HKT) May 1, 2020
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump contradicted a rare on-the-record statement from his own intelligence community by claiming Thursday that he has seen evidence that gives him a "high degree of confidence" the novel coronavirus originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, but declined to provide details to back up his assertion.
The comments undercut a public statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued just hours earlier which stated no such assessment has been made and continues to "rigorously examine" whether the outbreak "began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan."
"Yes, I have," Trump said when asked whether he's seen evidence that would suggest the virus originated in the lab. Later, asked why he was confident in that assessment, Trump demurred.
"I can't tell you that. I'm not allowed to tell you that," he said.
Trump administration draws up plans to punish China over coronavirus outbreak
Trump officials have been pushing the US intelligence community to determine the exact origins of the coronavirus outbreak in pursuit of an unproven theory that the pandemic started because of a laboratory accident in China, multiple sources told CNN.
In acknowledgment of that effort, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued an unprecedented public statement Thursday prior to Trump's comments making clear the intelligence community is currently exploring two possibilities but cannot yet assess if the outbreak "was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan" or began "through contact with infected animals."
It is unusual for the intelligence community to comment publicly on its work before a formal assessment is made. Thursday's statement appears to have come in response to growing questions over the origins of the virus as Trump administration officials have spent weeks repeatedly floating the theory that the virus originated inside a Chinese lab.
Trump said Thursday there were "a lot of theories" that he would assess but seemed to hold out hope that Beijing would eventually be forthcoming with what it knows about the virus' origin.
"China may tell us," he said.
Pressure from Trump officials
Despite warnings from scientists and intelligence professionals that the US may never know the precise origin of the virus, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has continued to push the intelligence community for precise details about the origin of the virus, CNN has learned.
As a result, intelligence officials are facing enormous pressure to determine whether the virus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, two sources familiar with their frustrations told CNN. While the intelligence community has been wary to share details about the demands coming from the Trump administration, officials have told allies that the situation on the inside is alarming.
New York Times: Top administration officials have pushed intelligence agencies to link coronavirus to Chinese labs
The New York Times was the first to report Thursday that a number of top officials in the Trump administration have pushed US intelligence agencies looking into the origin of the novel coronavirus to "hunt for evidence" linking the virus to a Chinese laboratory.
While the White House and State Department have urged intelligence officials to find evidence that backs up the theory that the outbreak can be traced back to a Chinese lab, the intelligence community made clear Thursday that they have not reached a definitive conclusion beyond ruling out theories that the virus was man-made or genetically modified.
"The IC will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan," the statement issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on behalf of the entire community said.
US explores possibility that coronavirus spread started in Chinese lab, not a market
While the statement suggests the intelligence community has not yet developed a clear assessment as to how the outbreak started, it does say that officials have ruled out the possibility that the virus was "man-made or genetically modified," agreeing with a near consensus among scientists and refuting conspiracy theories.
Trump was asked about the statement for the first time shortly after it was released but responded by defending his handling of the situation and pushing back on reports that warnings about an emerging outbreak were included in his daily briefs dating back to January and February.
"Well I haven't seen the report yet, but I will tell you, if you speak to the head of intelligence right now, you speak to the head, they did say that I was given a briefing when I said I was given it, not before and they also said that it wasn't specific and it was not a panicked briefing," Trump said, appearing to refer to acting DNI Richard Grenell despite the fact he wasn't tapped for the job until February.
Trump's more direct comments about the outbreak's origins came when he was asked about the issue for a second time Thursday.
it wont be Trump you imbecile, it will be Biden he ordered the report while Trump sounded as stupid as you
No wonder you are both losers
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When Joe Biden, US president, last week ordered US intelligence to intensify efforts to determine the origins of Covid-19, he gave fresh life to the theory that the virus may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Biden said that US intelligence had “coalesced around two scenarios” — that the virus had either emerged naturally or was the result of a lab accident.
It was the first time that the president had given credence to the possibility that the virus had leaked from a lab — a notion widely slammed as a conspiracy theory when Donald Trump first made the claim
Biden said that US intelligence had “coalesced around two scenarios” — that the virus had either emerged naturally or was the result of a lab accident.
It was the first time that the president had given credence to the possibility that the virus had leaked from a lab — a notion widely slammed as a conspiracy theory when Donald Trump first made the claim
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