However, there was a leak from the lab? Joe Biden asks about the origins of COVID-19

Contents

Laboratory leak hypothesis
Several hours for an investigation in the lab
WIV employees suffer from COVID-19 in November 2019.
The coronavirus is spread easily to humans
US Intelligence: WIV has a weak security protocol
The farms are located 1609 km from Wuhan
Animal Spread Theory

Coronavirus What you need to know Coronavirus in Poland Coronavirus in Europe Coronavirus in the world Guide Map Frequently asked questions #Let’s talk about

World leaders, including US President Joe Biden, are calling for a thorough examination of the true origins of the pandemic. WHO specialists spent a month investigating the case in Wuhan city and found that the coronavirus most likely spread to humans from the animal world. However, experts have not found conclusive evidence to support the hypothesis, so the version about the lab leak still cannot be finally ruled out.

Wuhan Institute of Virology conducted research on coronaviruses before the pandemic
WIV employees developed symptoms similar to COVID in November 2019.
SARS-CoV-2 has 97 percent. common genetic code with other coronaviruses found in bats
WHO concludes animal-to-human transmission of virus is “most likely”
You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page

The inquiry group includes President Joe Biden, Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization.

Also read: Investigation into the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Joe Biden requests more efforts

Anthony Fauci and Scott Gottlieb, former head of the Food and Drug Administration, agree with the latter theory. Joe Biden gave the Intelligence Community 90 days to collect and analyze evidence against each of these two scenarios. We check the available evidence and statements of scientists on this matter for Business Insider.

Laboratory leak hypothesis

A group of scientists from the US, UK, Canada and Switzerland recently published a letter confirming that the laboratory leak theory is up-to-date. It is about the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a laboratory where scientists studied coronaviruses before the pandemic. WIV scientists collect, store and analyze samples of the most dangerous and infectious pathogens known to mankind. The Institute has as much as the 4th level of biological safety, which is one of several dozen so safe in the world.

Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO scientist specializing in animal diseases who was part of the research team in January, said speculation was natural – WIV moved to a new location in early December 2019, which happens to be located just a few kilometers from Huanan Market. “Even the staff said it was their first reaction when they heard about the new disease – this is something that came out of our labs,” they said, “emphasized Ben Embarek.

Coronavirus escaped from the lab? Scientists: There are two possibilities

WIV employees found no evidence that samples of the new coronavirus were stored at the institute before December 2019. No viruses were found that, when combined, could cause the emergence of a new coronavirus.

Several hours for an investigation in the lab

Importantly, Ben Embark’s team did not receive full access to the data of the Wuhan institute. They only spent a few hours at the institute – and that’s not enough to browse through files, databases or freezer lists. The institute’s employees did not make all the security records and logs available. Fauci still calls for a full examination of the laboratory.

WIV employees suffer from COVID-19 in November 2019.

A report leaked by The Wall Street Journal found three WIV employees fell ill and went to the hospital for over a month before experts identified the first cases of COVID-19 in Wuhan. However, the report was not sufficiently confirmed – as workers’ symptoms were characteristic of both COVID-19 and seasonal flu.

The coronavirus is spread easily to humans

Typically, the virus takes time to adapt to spread easily between people, raising the suspicion that the coronavirus is the result of laboratory tests. Scientists are modifying viruses to be more contagious and deadly to find out how to contain future pandemics.

“I can’t believe it went from bat to man and then the virus became one of the most infectious viruses we know in mankind,” said one scientist on CNN in March.

However, growing evidence shows that COVID-19 spread for weeks, if not months, before the first cases were recorded – then it would have had time to adapt to human transmission.

Poles believe that the virus “escaped” from the laboratory and a conspiracy of concerns

US Intelligence: WIV has a weak security protocol

Three years ago, US officials visiting Wuhan sent notes to the State Department warning of inadequate security measures in the laboratory. However, the institute seems to have made rigorous changes since then, as the WHO team was later satisfied with the lab’s protocols. Ben Embarek said the WIV housed “a state-of-the-art laboratory”, which is one reason his team believes that “it is very unlikely that anything could leak out of such a location.” Such leakage accidents are generally rare, but four have occurred – SARS leakage from laboratories in Taiwan, Singapore, and Beijing.

The farms are located 1609 km from Wuhan

Animal farms where the WHO team believes the coronavirus is most likely to be found are between 800 and 1609 km from Wuhan. However, the WHO team found that rabbits and ferrets sold at the market were transported from regions in China where bats carry viruses similar to the novel coronavirus. The animals could pass it on to farmers and vendors who traveled to the city.

Animal Spread Theory

Following an investigation in Wuhan, the WHO team determined that the coronavirus most likely passed from bats to humans via farm animals. It is worth adding that 75 percent. new infectious diseases come from animals. Moreover, the genetic code of the coronavirus is very similar to that of other coronaviruses found in bats.

That’s where the SARS-CoV-2 virus came from? “We can’t rule anything out”

The WHO concluded that animal-to-human transmission of the virus is “most likely”.

Any contact with an infected animal or its faeces may allow the virus to pass from animals to humans. However, the team examined 80. animals from 31 provinces in China and has not found a single case of coronavirus. China closed animal farms in February 2020, and WHO scientists were not given access to samples from these farms. They also had difficulties accessing data and blood samples from patients in and around Wuhan – which also challenges the team’s conclusions.

SARS-CoV-2 has 97 percent. a common genetic code with other coronaviruses found in bats, and these animals are actually reservoirs of viruses. A May 2020 study revealed that the new coronavirus shares 97,1 percent. its genetic code with the coronavirus called RmYN02, which was found in bats in the Chinese Yunnan province between May and October 2019. Statistics also support the zoonotic theory – three out of four infectious diseases come from animals. The risk of an epidemic is increasing – in the past 40 years, according to Dennis Carroll, former director of USAID’s New Threats Division, people are increasingly turning wilderness into farms and food-producing regions. “The future threats we will have to deal with already exist and are now circulating in nature,” Carroll added.