‘Don’t rule out’ COVID-19 lab leak concept, Chinese scientist says

The risk COVID-19 may have leaked from a Chinese lab shouldn’t be dominated out, a former high Chinese authorities scientist has mentioned.

Professor George Gao, the previous head of China’s Centre for Disease Control (CDC), advised the BBC Radio 4 podcast Fever: The Hunt for COVID’s Origin: “You can always suspect anything. That’s science. Don’t rule out anything.”

This is in distinction to the place of the Chinese authorities, which dismisses any suggestion the virus could have originated in a Wuhan laboratory.

Wuhan – the town the place the virus was first detected – is house to one in every of China’s high nationwide laboratories identified to have spent years finding out coronaviruses.

Professor Gao performed a key position within the pandemic response and efforts to hint the way it began.

The COVID-19 lab leak concept resurfaced earlier this yr in February when the FBI’s director mentioned that is the place it “most likely” originated.

But many scientists say the burden of proof suggests {that a} pure origin – the virus spreading from animals to people – is the most definitely situation.

In a report seen by the Wall Street Journal, 4 different US businesses agreed with the FBI and mentioned a lab leak was doubtless the results of pure transmission.

Another two businesses stay formally undecided, the Journal added.

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Professor Gao advised the BBC a proper investigation into the Wuhan Institute of Virology was carried out and “that lab was double-checked by the experts in the field”.

He added: “I think their conclusion is that they are following all the protocols. They haven’t found (any) wrongdoing.”

What has China mentioned concerning the ‘lab leak’?

“The so-called ‘lab leak’ is a lie created by anti-China forces. It is politically motivated and has no scientific basis,” the Chinese embassy within the UK advised the BBC.

Earlier this yr, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning mentioned the involvement of the US intelligence neighborhood was proof sufficient of the “politicisation of origin tracing”.

“By rehashing the lab-leak theory, the US will not succeed in discrediting China, and instead, it will only hurt its own credibility,” Ms Mao mentioned.

“We urge the US to respect science and facts… stop turning origin tracing into something about politics and intelligence, and stop disrupting social solidarity and origins cooperation,” she added.

When did COVID-19 first begin spreading?

According to the UK authorities web site, in December 2019, the World Health Organisation (WHO), was knowledgeable of a cluster of instances of pneumonia of unknown trigger detected in Wuhan City, China.

In January 2020, it was introduced {that a} novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) had been recognized from affected person samples.

A month later, the virus was formally named SARS-CoV-2, and the illness attributable to it was named COVID-19.

According to the WHO, an estimated 336.8 million life-years have been misplaced globally as a result of pandemic.