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The UK intelligence community told the government from the start that China had hidden the true scale of the pandemic, the sources say.
A former high-ranking MI6 official says the ministers were told “not to believe Beijing’s claims” and to pour cold water on all the information coming out of China.
British intelligence agencies knew what “was really going on” from the start and had made London “fully aware,” according to The Daily Telegraph.
An unidentified MI6 source told the newspaper: ‘The idea that the UK would have taken the Chinese figures to the letter is downright ridiculous.
“If the Chinese lie, the role of the intelligence community is to know what the real numbers might be if they are hidden.”
‘We did not believe that these figures came from China. The government would have been fully aware of the true scale of the virus in China at the time. ”
British intelligence agencies knew what “was really going on” from the start and had made London “fully aware,” according to previous MI6 sources.
The new allegations imply that Johnson sat on his hands before March 23, raising further concerns about his competition as Prime Minister (pictured, deaths associated with Covid)
Boris Johnson likely received intelligence reports of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei, before ordering the closure.
However, the Prime Minister already faces accusations of not treating the virus as a sufficient threat to public health in the months leading up to March 23.
A Sunday Times investigation in April reported that Johnson had not chaired five Cobra meetings about the outbreak in early 2020.
Combined with his failure to visit severely flooded UK regions after successive storms, Jeremy Corbyn taunted him as a “part-time Prime Minister”.
If true, the new allegations imply that Johnson sat on his hands despite early warnings from Britain’s intelligence community.
They raise more concerns about his competence as prime minister.
The dossier, which has circulated among Western governments, cites evidence that the virus was transmitted to humans through a Wuhan laboratory (pictured, group-managed bats)
The new claims have emerged during a major diplomatic dispute between the Western powers and China over the alleged cover-up of the outbreak in Beijing.
International pressure is mounting on the Chinese regime for clarification after an intelligence dossier leaked that accuses Beijing of lying.
The file, which has circulated among western governments, including Britain, cites evidence that the virus was transmitted to humans through a Wuhan laboratory.
It also claims that China persecuted whistleblowers as part of the cover-up and obstructed efforts by other countries to develop a vaccine.
The classified document, from the Five Eyes security alliance of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, risks breaking the fragile consensus that has been maintained between nations, with the exception of President Trump, to avoid direct charges against the Chinese government. about the pandemic.
Leaked in Australia’s Saturday Telegraph, the dossier makes scathing The criticism of the alleged cover-ups and persecutions mounted by the Chinese since the outbreak.
Trump’s Five Eyes allies have been reluctant to join his criticism of Beijing, despite having access to the same intelligence briefings, particularly when China is providing vital protective gear and fans to countries like the Kingdom. United.
Boris Johnson likely received intelligence reports of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei, before ordering the shutdown (pictured, January 24, 2020)
Trump’s Five Eyes allies have been reluctant to join his criticism of Beijing (on the right, President Xi Jinping), despite having access to the same intelligence briefings.
The United States Secretary of State says there is “enormous evidence” that the pandemic originated in the Wuhan laboratory
Mike Pompeo said there was “enormous evidence” that the coronavirus pandemic originated in a laboratory in Wuhan.
By Valerie Edwards for DailyMail.com
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there was “enormous evidence” that the coronavirus pandemic originated in a laboratory in Wuhan.
‘There is enormous evidence that this is where this started. We’ve said from the start that this was a virus that originated in Wuhan, China, ” Pompeo said on ABC’s This Week.
‘We were very distressed by that from the beginning. But I think everyone can see now. Remember, China has a history of infecting the world, and they have a history of running inferior quality labs, ” he added.
Experts believe the virus started spreading in early February in the United States before forcing states to issue blocking directives for millions of Americans beginning in mid-March.
There are more than 1.1 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States. USA With at least 68,000 deaths.
Calls for China to pay reparations to other countries are also likely to escalate if the claims are justified when Trump already demands $ 1 trillion.
The record says that China moved to cover up the severity of the outbreak from early December and stated: “Despite evidence of human-to-human transmission since early December, authorities in the People’s Republic of China deny it until January 20. “
He called Beijing’s secrecy on the pandemic an “assault on international transparency”, noting that China imposed travel bans on people traveling within its borders, as it told the world that the travel bans were unnecessary.
Addressing the possibility that the virus has leaked from the Wuhan Institute, the report cites several studies led by scientist Dr. Shi Zhengli as concerns.
Highlights the fact that Dr. Zhengli, called Bat Woman, and her team have conducted laboratory research on deadly bat-derived coronaviruses, with at least one of the virus samples having 96% genetic compatibility for Covid. -19.
UK security sources said they were ‘reviewing’ the details in the report.
Xiong Jun of the Chinese Embassy in London said: “The head of the Wuhan Institute of Virology stressed in an interview that the institute is governed by a set of strict management rules.” High-level biological research safety laboratories have sophisticated protection facilities and strict measures to ensure the safety of laboratory personnel and to protect the environment from contamination.
‘There is no infection at the institute. It is the established general opinion of [the World Health Organisation], and scientists and professionals in the field of public health in the vast majority of countries, including the USA. In the US, there is no evidence that the virus came from a laboratory. As the pandemic spreads, the international community should cooperate in the fight against the virus.
‘This is the only way to defeat Covid-19. Rumors, slander, and slander will only harm international solidarity.
