Washington: Three researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology sought hospital care in November 2019, weeks before Beijing announced it COVID-19 pandemic, reads a US media report citing a previously unknown US information document that could add weight to growing calls for a full investigation into the coronavirus may have escaped from China’s top bio-laboratory.
The details of the report extend beyond a State Department factsheet issued during the last days of the Trump administration, which says several researchers at the Wuhan Laboratory, a center for the study of coronaviruses and other pathogens, became ill in the autumn of 2019 ‘with symptoms similar to both Covid-19 and common seasonal illnesses, ”reports the Wall Street Journal.
The origin of the COVID-19 a topic that is widely discussed, and some scientists and politicians claim that the possibility of a laboratory leak of the deadly virus exists. The Wuhan Institute of Virology is located near the well-known epicenter of the Huanan Seafood Market in the city of Wuhan in central China, where the virus originated in late 2019 and became a pandemic.
Former US President Donald Trump was among those who supported the theory that the virus could have escaped from a biolaboratory in China.
“Three researchers from the Chinese Wuhan Institute of Virology became ill in November 2019 after seeking hospital care,” the newspaper said.
The announcement of the number of Chinese researchers, the timing of their illnesses and their hospital visits comes on the eve of a meeting of the World Health Organization’s decision-making body, which is expected to cover the next phase of an investigation into Covid-19th origin.
The newspaper said that current and former officials familiar with the intelligence on laboratory researchers expressed different views on the strength of the supporting evidence, and one person said that it was provided by an international partner and that it was potentially important, but still need to be investigated and additional confirmation.
Another person described intelligence as stronger. ‘The information we had from various sources was of excellent quality. It was very precise. “What it did not tell you was exactly why they became ill,” he said, referring to the researchers.
In a detailed article entitled ‘The origin of COVID: Did People or Nature Open Pandora’s Box at Wuhan ‘published in the prestigious Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists earlier this month, British science writer, editor and author Nicholas Wade asked several questions about the novel’s origins coronavirus which disrupted lives worldwide for more than a year and caused more than three million deaths and devastated global economies.
The evidence contributes to a serious case that the SARS2 virus could have been created in a laboratory, from which it then escaped, writes Wade, who refers to SARS-CoV-2 virus as SARS2.
Earlier this month, a group of leading British and American scientists called for more research to determine the origin of science COVID-19 pandemic, including the theory of an accidental release from a laboratory in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
In a letter published in the journal Science, experts from world-leading universities such as Harvard, Stanford and MIT said they knew how COVID-19 has emerged is critical to informing global strategies to reduce the risk of future outbreaks.
They warn that hypotheses about natural and laboratory flooding should be taken seriously until there is sufficient data.
In May 2020, the World Health Assembly requested that the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) work with partners to determine the origin of SARS-CoV-2.
A team of WHO experts who trace the origins of the coronavirus, concluded in March that “all hypotheses” the claim that COVID-19 could “stay open” from a biolaboratory.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on March 30, receiving the report from the international team of experts who visited Wuhan, said: “as far as the WHO is concerned, all hypotheses remain on the table”.
“This report is a very important beginning, but it is not the end. “We have not yet found the source of the virus, and we must continue to follow science and leave no stone unturned as we do,” he said.
It is noteworthy that Tedros said the team concluded that the leak from the WIV as alleged by former US President Donald Trump is the “least likely hypothesis”, but it needs to be further investigated.
China has demanded that the search for the country’s origins be expanded coronavirus in other countries, mainly America, to circumvent the WHO’s claim that a further investigation is needed into allegations that the deadly virus may have leaked from the bio-laboratory in Wuhan.
China stressed that the study of origin is a matter of science, which should be carried out jointly by scientists around the world.
‘Politicizing this issue will only seriously hamper global cooperation in investigating the origin, jeopardize cooperation against pandemics and cost more lives. That would be contrary to the international community’s quest for solidarity against the virus, ‘a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in March.
Source: Telangana Today