/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/1214805286/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=6048&cropY1=162&cropY2=3563&w=1920&resize=1920,0&ssl=1 "‘Pure Fabrication’: Wuhan Lab Director Rejects Theory That Coronavirus Leaked From Facility")
TOPLINE
The explosive theory that Covid-19 leaked from a lab in Wuhan is “pure fabrication,” the facility’s director said Sunday, and comes amid tension between the U.S. and China over the origin of the virus, and repeated attacks by the Trump administration to deflect criticism of its own response to the outbreak.
Wuhan on a recent Saturday night.
Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images
KEY FACTS
Wuhan Institute of Virology director Wang Yanyi told state broadcaster CGTN that the lab received its first Covid-19 sample on December 30: “We didn’t have any knowledge before that, nor had we ever encountered, researched or kept the virus.”
Wang said her lab was studying three live strains of bat coronaviruses, but none matched Covid-19.
While China has been criticized for its secrecy in the early days of the outbreak in Wuhan, the theory that the virus originated in a lab has been dismissed by many in the scientific community, including National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci, though the Trump administration has continued to raise it as a possibility in public statements.
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, said during his annual news conference Sunday that in addition to coronavirus, a “political virus” is raging through the U.S, and called out politicians for ignoring “basic facts” and plotting conspiracies.
China and the U.S. need to learn from each other’s fight against the virus, Wang Yi said, and not “waste precious time any longer, and don’t ignore lives.”
Wang Yi also rejected calls for China to pay virus compensation, a course of action the Trump administration has reportedly taken under consideration in recent weeks.
Crucial quote
“In fact, like everyone else, we didn’t even know the virus existed,” Wang Yanyi told CGTN. “How could it have leaked from our lab when we never had it?”
Key background
The Wuhan lab theory, which started in late January, has become a choice political tool for the Trump administration seeking to blame China for the outbreak, though they have not provided any evidence to support the claim. While a few scientists have suggested that it’s possible for a lab researcher to have accidentally been infected, many other scientists dismiss this idea. Research does suggest, however, that the virus likely came from bats, given the similarities between SARS-CoV-2 and similar coronaviruses seen in bats. The Pentagon’s top general said April 15 that while the lab theory was investigated, the “weight of evidence” suggests that coronavirus came from “natural” origins. Scientists from multiple countries, along with most intelligence agencies, also say that evidence suggests the coronavirus came from wildlife as opposed to a lab.
Tangent
Missouri became the first U.S. state on March 23 to sue China over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Wang Yi, the diplomat, said the lawsuit lacks any legal basis: “I am afraid this is a daydream and you’ll only humiliate yourself.”
Further reading
A Timeline Of The COVID-19 Wuhan Lab Origin Theory (Forbes)
A Virologist Explains Why It Is Unlikely COVID-19 Escaped From A Lab (Forbes)
Wuhan lab says its bat strains were not Covid-19 as US nears 100,000 deaths (The Guardian)
China tells U.S. to stop wasting time in coronavirus battle (Reuters)
U.S. officials crafting retaliatory actions against China over coronavirus as President Trump fumes (Washington Post)
Fauci: No scientific evidence the coronavirus was made in a Chinese lab (National Geographic)
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