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China said it had asked laboratories to illegally cancel nCoV samples in the early stages of an outbreak for biosafety reasons.
Liu Dengfeng, a science department official with the China National Health Commission, confirmed today that unauthorized laboratories were asked to cancel nCoV samples to “prevent biosecurity risks and prevent secondary disasters caused by unspecified pathogens.”
A researcher working in a laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in February 2017. Image: AFP
Liu said that when the first cases were reported in Wuhan, “national professional research institutes” were working hard to identify pathogens.
“Based on extensive research and expert opinion, we decided to classify the pathogen of pneumonia as Type II, high pathogenicity, and to impose biosecurity requirements on activities. Sample collection, transportation, and testing activities, as well as destruction of samples, “Liu said at a press conference in Beijing.
Type II pathogens can be transmitted between humans, animals and animals or between humans and animals and cause serious diseases such as SARS and smallpox.
According to a local health committee announcement in February, people handling nCoV samples were ordered not to turn them over to any unapproved organization or laboratory.
Laboratories that took illegal nCoV samples during the early stages of the outbreak were forced to destroy them or send them to an epidemic prevention and control center for storage. It began an investigation into the virus that caused Covid-19 on December 31 and notified the World Health Organization of the outbreak the same day. On 9/1, China said the disease was caused by a new strain of the coronavirus.
The administration of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, recently accused China of concealing the epidemic and trying to retain the first samples to take advantage of the vaccine manufacturing race.
However, Liu said China has been open to sharing virus strains in the past and is willing to share about nCoV “in an orderly fashion within the framework of the World Health Organization” to promote integration. Scientific research and preparation, reasonable distribution of vaccines and search for treatment.
China has also denied US allegations of not allowing the WHO delegation to visit the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where it is suspected to be an “nCoV”. Li Mingzhu, a senior official with the NHC’s International Cooperation Department, said the WHO made no request to visit the laboratory on both trips to Wuhan in January and February.
The Trump administration has repeatedly promoted the nCoV hypothesis that it originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, which recorded the first cases in December 2019, but did not provide concrete evidence.
“The comments by some US officials are fallacious and are intended to be confusing,” Liu said.
The United States Army and the Five Eyes, an intelligence alliance of five countries in the United States, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, argue that nCoV is neither artificial nor genetically modified.
The Chinese government has either responded violently to the translation allegations or called for an investigation into the origin of nCoV. Beijing has insisted on being transparent about Covid-19 and has supported WHO in leading an “open, transparent and comprehensive” assessment of the global response to the pandemic.
Ngoc Anh (Follow SCMP)
