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P4 Laboratory at the Wuhan Virus Institute in Hubei, China, April 17. (Photo: AFP)
Located in the mountainous suburbs of Wuhan City, where the Covid-19 outbreak broke out, a Chinese high-security biosecurity laboratory is becoming a hot spot in complaints from America. Washington suspected that this laboratory was the source of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chinese scientists say the new strain of the corona virus could have been transmitted from animals to humans in the Wuhan wildlife market. However, the existence of a laboratory has sparked a conspiracy theory that pathogens may have emerged from this facility.
American officials also believe in the theory related to the laboratory in Wuhan. Both President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed that the United States was conducting an investigation into the origin and mode of infection of Covid-19.
Wuhan virus institute
The Wuhan Virus Institute includes the China Virus Culture Collection Center, which is considered the largest virus bank in Asia with more than 1,500 virus strains.
The complex of Asia’s first maximum security laboratory is equipped to handle Type 4 (P4) pathogens, including dangerous viruses with a high risk of person-to-person transmission, such as Ebola.
The 300 million yuan ($ 42 million) laboratory was completed in 2015 and opened in 2018. The founder of a French biotechnology company, Alain Merieux, played the role of During the construction of the laboratory.
The institute also has a P3 laboratory that has been in operation since 2012.
The Wuhan P4 Laboratory is 3,000 square meters wide, in a square building with a cylindrical appendage, located near a lake at the foot of a hill in the outlying suburbs of Wuhan.
During a recent visit, the correspondent of the news agency. AFP There were no signs of any activity inside.
A banner is placed outside that says, “Strict prevention and control, don’t panic, listen to official warnings, believe in science, don’t spread rumors.”
The focus of the controversy over the origin of Covid-19
Both Washington Post and Fox News citing unidentified sources concerned that the new corona virus strain may have unintentionally emanated from the Wuhan Virus Institute.
Washington Post According to the diplomatic information of EE. In the US, officials in the country are particularly concerned that the researchers’ safety standard when dealing with coronaviruses, such as SARS, in a laboratory in Wuhan is not adequate. enough
In the meantime Fox News They reported that “patient number 0” of the Covid-19 pandemic may have been infected with a strain of bat virus while studying in Wuhan’s laboratory and passing it on to the city community.
The staff worked at the Wuhan Virus Institute in 2017. (Image: AFP)
According to ReutersWhen asked about the Covid-19 hypothesis emanating from a laboratory in Wuhan, President Donald Trump said on April 17 that the United States had captured this information and was “conducting a very thorough investigation.” .
According to SCMPOn April 17, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also asked China to grant US experts access to the Wuhan Virus Institute. Pompeo said the purpose of the approach was to identify the exact origin of Covid-19.
Many other conspiracy theories claim that the origin of Covid-19 from a laboratory in Wuhan has “blossomed” online.
The Wuhan Virus Institute since February has denied the rumors. The center said it had received unknown virus samples on December 30, then determined the viral genome sequence on January 2 and sent the pathogen information to the World Health Organization. (WHO) on January 11.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on April 17 also denied that the laboratory in Wuhan was responsible for the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“A wise person will immediately understand that the purpose of this action is to create confusion, divert public attention and evade responsibility,” said Zhao.
Zhao had previously theorized that the US military could have brought the virus to China.
What do scientists know about the origin of Covid-19?
Until now, scientists believed that the new strain of the corona virus originated in bats before being transmitted to humans through an intermediate species, possibly a rare species of pangolin that is still illegally marketed in China. medicine
But a study by a team of Chinese scientists published in The Lancet in January revealed that the first Covid-19 patient was not related to the seafood market in Wuhan and 13 of 41 The same is true for the first infected case.
Researcher Shi Zhengli, one of China’s leading experts on bat bat virus and deputy director of the P4 lab at the Wuhan Virus Institute, also said that Covid-19 came from bats.
In an interview with Science American, Shi said the Covid-19 genome sequence is incompatible with any bat corona virus that his laboratory has previously collected and studied.
Filippa Lentzos, a biosecurity researcher at King’s College London, said there is currently no evidence to support the Covid-19 hypothesis that came out of a laboratory in Wuhan. Furthermore, there is no “genuine evidence” that the virus originated from a seafood market in Wuhan.
“For me, the origins of a pandemic remain an open question,” Lentzos said, adding that a thorough investigation is needed to draw firm conclusions on the origin of the pandemic.
David Heymann, professor of infectious epidemiology at the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, also said there was no evidence of the origin of Covid-19, but that it “is closely related to the bat virus.” “
“There are many theories about how people could get infected with the virus, and I don’t think there are any hypotheses that can be tested at this point,” Heymann said.
According to the statistics on the page. WorldometersThe Covid-19 epidemic has infected more than 2.27 million people and has claimed the lives of at least 156,000 people worldwide.
Thanh Dat
Summary
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