Calls to probe Wuhan lab as Covid source grow louder after latest report

The suspicion that a lab leak from a Chinese facility in Wuhan was the root cause of the Covid19 pandemic continues to gather momentum with an investigative report by a leading US daily pointing out that three researchers working at the Wuhan Institute of Virology WIV developed Covid19 like symptoms ahead of the official date of the breakoutAccording to The Wall Street Journal WSJ these researchers from WIV sought hospital care in November 2019 months ahead of Chinas disclosure of the Covid19 pandemic The newspaper on Sunday based its findings on a previous US intelligence report which provided fresh details on the number of researchers affected at the WIV the timing of their illnesses and their visits to the hospitalThe report may add more weight to growing clamour for a fresh and impartial probe into the origins of the Covid19 pandemic especially after an inconclusive investigation by the World Health Organisation WHO had earlier said that a lab leak was unlikely to be the cause of the pandemicAlso read Real Covid19 death count across the world twice the reported figure says WHOThe WSJ report has been published on the eve of a WHO meeting which is expected to discuss the next phase of a probe into the origins of Covid19 The WSJ writeup builds on earlier credible reports that strongly suggest that a lab leak could have been the likely cause of the Covid19 outbreak In a detailed article the authoritative Bulletin of Atomic Scientist BAS had cited five reasons to build a case for a fresh investigation on the possibility that the virus had escaped from WIVThe BAS report points out that WIV has been engaged in what are called gainoffunction experiments In simple language it means that the facility had been conducting experiments to enhance the ability of dangerous animal viruses to infect people Was SARSCoV2 virus that caused the Covid19 pandemic also a result of gainoffunction experiments In that case its accidental leakage cannot be ruled outNicholas Wade the author of the article further identifies Shi Zhengli as a nodal researcher at WIV who was engaged in gainoffunction experiments The author points out that Shi had earlier collaborated with coronavirus researcher Ralph S Baric In November 2015 the duo created a novel virus by taking the backbone of the SARS1 virus and replacing its spike protein with one from a bat virus The development of SARSCoV2 could therefore have been a logical extension of her earlier workSecond the safety standards of WIV were simply not foolproof to prevent an accidental leakage of a lab developed Coronavirus Wade spotlights that gainoffunction experiments were being carried out in the less safe BSL2 level labsThird Chinese lack of transparency during the conduct of investigations to determine the origin of the pandemic at Wuhan has further strengthened the lab escape proposition Fourth the Chinese authorities went out of their way to sell the theory that the SARSCoV2virus evolved naturally Why did they have to mount such an extraordinary effort Finally the Chinese attempted to manipulate the composition of the WHO investigators who visited them in February and controlled the teams information access generating further speculation of foul playEarlier the Weekend Australian newspaper revealed that Chinese scientists were thinking about bioweapons visualising a Word War3 scenario The daily cited a Chinese government document which discussed the weaponisation of SARS coronavirus Titled the Unnatural Origin of SARS and New Species of ManMade Viruses as Genetic Bioweapons the 2015 paper was authored by Chinese scientists Chinese public health officials and members of the Peoples Liberation Army PLAReleased five years ahead the Covid19 outbreak it nails Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome SARS coronaviruses as a new era of genetic weapons that can be artificially manipulated into an emerging human edisease virus then weaponised and unleashed in a way never seen before The question then arises Was the WIV engaged in developing bioweapons resulting in the accidental escape of SARSCoV2Reporting on the WSJ story Reuters contacted a US National Security Council spokeswoman for comment Without directly commenting on the WSJ report she said that the Biden administration continued to have serious questions about the earliest days of the Covid19 pandemic including its origins within the Peoples Republic of ChinaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever