Wuhan’s mysterious laboratory suspected of initiating the current pandemic

Located among the hills surrounding the Chinese city of Wuhan, where a new coronavirus has appeared, The Chinese biotechnology laboratory has become the center of global controversy.

According to Chinese scientists, the virus may have passed from animal to human in the Wuhan live animals market. But the existence of this laboratory helps suggest that the virus came from there.

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo He said that a “full investigation” of how the virus “went into the world.”

But what is it Wuhan Institute of Virology?

The institute is located The Viral Culture Center, the most important viral bank in Asia, which houses more than 1,500 species, according to their website.

The complex has the first laboratory in Asia with a high degree of protection, capable of processing class 4 (P4) pathogens, that is, dangerous viruses transmitted from person to person, such as Ebola.

The lab was worth 300 million yuan ($ 42 million) and was completed in 2015. although it was not open until 2018. Frenchman Alain Merrier, the founder of the bio-industrial company, advised on its construction.

The institute also has a P3 level laboratory, which has been operating since 2012. P4 laboratory with an area of ​​3,000 m2 is located in a square building with a cylindrical extension, near the pond at the foot of a wooded hill on the outskirts of Wuhan. During a recent visit, AFP did not see any activity inside.

A sign outside the complex indicates “Strong prevention and control, do not be afraid, listen to official announcements, believe in science, do not spread rumors.”

The Washington Post and Fox News cite anonymous sources that claim the virus could have accidentally left the complex. According to diplomatic documents that The Washington Post was able to advise, The authorities were concerned about the insufficient safety of investigators when dealing with viruses similar to Registry office,

According to Fox News, Pandemic patient zero It could have been infected with various bat viruses that they studied in the laboratory and which were subsequently transferred to the Wuhan population.

When asked about this hypothesis, US President Donald Trumpsaid that “we hear this story more and more” and that The United States is conducting an “in-depth investigation.”

The institute declined to comment on these theories on Friday, but in February issued a statement about it, refuting rumors. He explained receiving a new coronavirus on December 30then unknown. Then, on January 2, he determined the sequence of the viral genome and on January 11 submitted information about the pathogen to the World Health Organization (WHO).

From my side Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao LijianOn Friday dismissed the laboratory’s liability charges. “A knowledgeable person will immediately understand that the goal is to create confusion“divert public attention and evade their responsibility,” said Zhao, who, in turn, spread rumors saying that the US military could bring the virus to China.

scientists they believe that the virus appeared in the bat and is transmitted to humans through an intermediate species, probably a pangolin.

But a study by a group of Chinese scientists published in a journal in January Lancetshows that the first patient is Covid-19 had nothing to do with the Wuhan animal market13 of the first 41 patients did not have it either.

Shi Zhengli, a leading Chinese expert in bat coronavirus and deputy director of the P4 laboratory, He was part of the team that published the first study, suggesting that Sars-CoV-2 (the official name for the virus) comes from bats.

In an interview with Scientific American, Shi said the Sars-CoV-2 genome did not match any of the bat coronaviruses his lab has studied so far.

According to Philippe Lentzos, a biosafety researcher at King’s College London, although there is no evidence for a theory of accident in the laboratory, There is also no “real evidence” that the virus came from the market. “For me, the origin of the pandemic is still unanswered,” he said.