Tag: Wuhan

China silent on independent probe on charges of COVID-19 leak from Wuhan bio lab

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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China on Wednesday parried a question on whether it would allow an independent probe into allegations that the COVID-19 virus may have been leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, while its researchers claimed that the coronavirus may have been transmitted to humans from pangolins.

Calls for an independent investigation into the origin of the coronavirus, which devastated the world after emerging from Wuhan have become louder especially in the US following new reports that some of the researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) fell sick well before China officially announced the COVID-19 outbreak on December 30, 2019.

Answering questions on calls for investigations, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian referred to the study of the origin of the coronavirus led by WHO experts group which visited Wuhan and WIV from January 14 to February 10, but parried a question whether Beijing would agree for an independent probe to investigate the allegations that COVID-19 may have been leaked from the WIV. Experts of the WHO mission during their visit to Wuhan had field visits and went through a lot of data and released a joint study report with many conclusions, Zhao said.

On Tuesday, media reports from Washington quoted the White House coronavirus adviser Andy Slavitt as saying that “we need to get to the bottom” of the origins of the pandemic pathogen and the World Health Organization (WHO) and China need to do more to provide definitive answers for the global community. “We need a completely transparent process from China,” Slavitt told a coronavirus task force briefing. Full assistance from the WHO is needed, and “we don’t have that now.” The Wall Street Journal has reported on May 24 that six miners fell sick with a mysterious illness akin to coronavirus in April 2012 after entering the mine located in the outskirts of a village deep in the mountains of southwest China which was investigated by the top researchers of the WIV.

Researchers from WIV now claim that the virus is closer to pangolins and unlikely from Wuhan lab”. Latest research again indicates that it was unlikely the novel coronavirus was leaked from the WIV, state-run Global Times quoted experts as saying, amid new reports about the lab leak theory ahead of the meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA) the governing body of the WHO, which began its sessions from Monday.

Researchers from the WIV and the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, including Shi Zhengli, who has been dubbed China’s “Bat Woman” for her research with bats and viruses, published a report last Friday on BioRxiv that further refutes the hyped theory that the virus came from the laboratory, the report said. Bats and pangolins are recognised as the most probable reservoir hosts that harbour viruses which are very similar to SARS-CoV-2.

Based on the Friday report, it is safe to say that bats are probable ancestors of the coronavirus that led to SARS in 2003 and the recent COVID-19 pandemic, and coronavirus strains discovered in pangolins are closer to the novel coronavirus in humans,” Yang Zhanqiu, a virologist from the Wuhan University, told the Global Times. He, however, said the report still did not explain how the virus was transferred and adapted from bats to humans via pangolins.

The most likely process is that the coronavirus from bats had mutated in nature for decades before it successfully infected humans and led to the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, Zhuang said. The news reports by the WIV researchers came after two reports by the WSJ stating that three researchers from the WIV sought hospital care in November 2019, weeks before Beijing disclosed the COVID-19 pandemic, which China has denied.

WSJ, in another report on May 24 said WIV scientists in April 2012 have investigated the illness suffered by six miners who fell sick with a mysterious health issue after entering the mine to clear bat guano. Three of them died. China has currently blocked the international media from reaching the mine to see the surroundings, the report said.

The WSJ quoted master’s thesis by Li Xu from the No. 1 School of Clinical Medicine at Kunming Medical University in southwest China on the miners’ illness akin to COVID-19. Over the next week, five others working at the Mojiang mine, ages 30 to 63, were admitted to the same hospital. All had similar symptoms.

Zhong Nanshan, top pulmonologist of China has diagnosed the illness as pneumonia, most likely caused by a virus, and recommended testing for SARS antibodies and trying to identify the type of bats in the mine, the WSJ report said. It quoted another thesis, written by a Ph.D. candidate supervised by George Gao, the current head of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, or China CDC, said four of the miners tested positive for SARS antibodies.

Over the next year or so, WIV scientists entered the Mojiang mine and took faecal samples from 276 bats, identifying six different species, according to a research paper they published later, it said. They extracted genetic material from the samples and sequenced fragments. Half of the samples tested positive for coronaviruses, including an unidentified SARS-like strain, according to the scientists. They called the virus RaBtCoV/4991, it said.

Critically, all six bat species showed evidence of coronavirus co-infection, the researchers found. In other words, the virus could easily exchange genetic material with similar ones to create a new coronavirus an environment ripe for the creation of new viruses that could potentially infect humans, the WSJ report said.

That research was led by Shi Zhengli, the WIV’s leading bat coronavirus expert. When the results were published in 2016 in the journal Virologica Sinica, it said. Only after the COVID-19 pandemic began did it become more significant. In February 2020, Dr. Shi and her colleagues published a paper in the scientific journal, Nature, revealing the existence of a virus called RaTG13. Sequencing had revealed it was 96.2 per cent similar to SARS-CoV-2 genetically, making it the closest known relative to the pandemic virus, the WSJ report said.

They said it was found in a bat in Yunnan, the Chinese province that includes the Mojiang region mine, but didn’t say when or where, it said. That revelation was considered a breakthrough in the search for COVID-19’s source, strongly indicating that it originated in bats, it said.

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WH adviser: ‘Get to bottom’ of virus origins

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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White House coronavirus adviser Andy Slavitt says we need to get to the bottom of the origins of the pandemic pathogen and the World Health Organization and China need to do more to provide definitive answers for the global community.

The precise origin of the virus remains undetermined and speculation has reigned about whether it jumped from animals to humans or whether it could have escaped from a Chinese government lab in Wuhan, the city that saw the first outbreak.

We need a completely transparent process from China, Slavitt said at Tuesday’s coronavirus task force briefing. Full assistance from the WHO is needed, and we don’t have that now.

Also Read: US agencies examine reports of early COVID-19 infections in Wuhan lab

Dr. Anthony Fauci said many of us feel like it was a natural occurrence, but we don’t know 100 percent and it is imperative to investigate.

Also Read: Black fungus: Govt ramps up supply of Amphotericin-B; all you need to know about the drug

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US agencies examine reports of early COVID-19 infections in Wuhan lab

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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US intelligence agencies are examining reports that researchers at a Chinese virology laboratory were seriously ill in 2019 a month before the first cases of COVID-19 were reported, according to US government sources who cautioned that there is still no proof the disease originated at the lab.

A still-classified US intelligence report circulated during former President Donald Trump’s administration alleged that three Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) researchers became so ill in November 2019 that they sought hospital care, sources familiar with US intelligence reporting and analysis said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It remained unclear whether these researchers were hospitalized or what their symptoms were, one of the sources said. The virus first appeared in Wuhan and then spread worldwide. ”We don’t have enough information to draw a conclusion about the origins” of the coronavirus, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told a news briefing on Monday. ”We need data. We need an independent investigation. And that’s exactly what we’ve been calling for.”

Information about the researchers was published in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, said on Monday it was ”completely untrue” that three WIV staff members had fallen ill.
The origin of the virus is hotly contested. In a report issued in March written jointly with Chinese scientists, a World Health Organization-led team that spent four weeks in and around Wuhan in January and February said the virus had probably been transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, and that ”introduction through a laboratory incident was considered to be an extremely unlikely pathway.”

The US intelligence community ”hasn’t ruled out either theory,” one official US source said. Intelligence reporting about possible November infections among Wuhan Institute employees ”can’t be dismissed” by US researchers, the source added.

The hypothesis that the virus escaped from a Chinese lab has been promoted on some conservative websites, and by some Republicans in the US Congress. US intelligence agencies have not reached their own determination on the cause.

The US State Department published a ”fact sheet on COVID-19 and the Wuhan lab on Jan. 15, 2020, five days before Trump left office, based in part on information in the classified report, sources said. Trump as president referred to the pathogen as the ”China virus” and the ”China plague.”

The Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and defense intelligence components contributed to both the public fact sheet and classified report, the sources said. Both were assembled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The classified report is regarded as valid by current US government agencies, experts investigating the origins of COVID-19 and by officials in President Joe Biden’s administration.

US agencies are concerned that WHO representatives have been unable to conduct independent investigations inside China into COVID-19’s origins, and are therefore wary of WHO findings, one US government source briefed on these investigations said.

”We continue to have serious questions about the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, including its origins within the People’s Republic of China,” a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said. In their own report on the origins of COVID-19 issued last week, Republican members of the US House of Representatives intelligence committee asserted that there was ”significant circumstantial evidence” suggesting COVID-19 ”may have been a leak” from the Wuhan lab.

Such evidence included information indicating ”several researchers” at the lab got COVID-19 symptoms in the fall of 2019, the report said.

The WHO, which opened its annual ministerial assembly on Monday, has not announced any follow-up to the Wuhan mission but member states may raise concerns in speeches to the week-long forum. US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is due to address it on Tuesday. The pandemic has killed more than 3.4 million people worldwide.

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Wuhan lab staff sought hospital care before COVID-19 outbreak disclosed: Report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Three researchers from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) sought hospital care in November 2019, months before China disclosed the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing a previously undisclosed US intelligence report.

The newspaper said the report – which provides fresh details on the number of researchers affected, the timing of their illnesses, and their hospital visits – may add weight to calls for a broader probe of whether the COVID-19 virus could have escaped from the laboratory.

The report came on the eve of a meeting of the World Health Organization’s decision-making body, which is expected to discuss the next phase of an investigation into the origins of COVID-19.

A National Security Council spokeswoman had no comment on the Journal’s report but said the Biden administration continued to have ”serious questions about the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, including its origins within the Peoples Republic of China.”

She said the US government was working with the WHO and other member states to support an expert-driven evaluation of the pandemic’s origins ”that is free from interference or politicization.”

”We’re not going to make pronouncements that prejudge an ongoing WHO study into the source of SARS-CoV-2, but we’ve been clear that sound and technically credible theories should be thoroughly evaluated by international experts,” she said.

The Journal said current and former officials familiar with the intelligence about the lab researchers expressed a range of views about the strength of the report’s supporting evidence, with one unnamed person saying it needed ”further investigation and additional corroboration.”

The United States, Norway, Canada, Britain, and other countries in March expressed concerns about the WHO-led COVID-19 origins study and called for further investigation and full access to all pertinent human, animal and other data about the early stages of the outbreak.

Washington is keen to ensure greater cooperation and transparency by China, according to a source familiar with the effort. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

Also Read: Former CDC chief believes coronavirus originated from Wuhan lab

On Sunday, China’s foreign ministry noted that a WHO-led team had concluded a lab leak was extremely unlikely after a visit in February to the virology institute. ”The US continues to hype the lab leak theory,” the ministry said in response to a request for comment by the Journal. ”Is it actually concerned about tracing the source or trying to divert attention?”

The Trump administration had said it suspected the virus may have escaped from a Chinese lab, which Beijing denies.

A State Department fact sheet released near the end of the Trump administration had said ”the US government has reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses.” It did not say how many researchers.

China refused to give raw data on early COVID-19 cases to the WHO-led team probing the origins of the pandemic, according to one of the team’s investigators, Reuters reported in February, potentially complicating efforts to understand how the outbreak began.

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China dodges WHO’s call for further probe into Wuhan lab leak theory of coronavirus

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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China on Wednesday called for expanding the search for the origins of the coronavirus in other countries, mainly America, as it sought to sidestep the WHO chief’s assertion that further probe is required on allegations that the deadly virus may have leaked from a bio-lab in Wuhan, saying he may have not been accurately quoted. Releasing the much-awaited report of an experts team that probed the origin of COVID-19 after visiting the controversial Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, World Health Organisation Chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reopened the Trump era allegation, saying that it required further probe.

“Although the team has concluded that a laboratory leak is the least likely hypothesis, this requires further investigation, potentially with additional missions involving specialist experts, which I am ready to deploy, Dr Tedros, who was earlier accused by the previous Trump administration as pro-China’, said in Geneva on Tuesday. Coming from the WHO chief with whom China had built a close rapport while battling the allegations that it suppressed facts related to the deadly virus early and acted late in containing it in Wuhan the assertion that it requires further probe caught Beijing by surprise.

“I don’t think the quote is very accurate because what I see is the expert mission said they cannot exclude the possibility of lab leakage but they have found no scientific evidence for that,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said while answering a volley of questions on the experts team report and Dr Tedros’ comments. Instead, Hua harped on the expert team’s remark that the lab leak theory is “extremely unlikely”.

Hua pointed to China’s oft-repeated charge that the virus has emanated from outside China which points finger at a US bio lab at Fort Detrick in Maryland which Beijing says should be opened for a probe by WHO experts team to ascertain whether it has any link to coronavirus. “If necessary we should conduct study in other places and we hope if necessary those countries can cooperate with WHO experts in an open and transparent manner just like China did. We believe this is in interest of the world,” she said.

In response to the WHO report, the US and 13 allies including South Korea, Australia and the UK, voiced concern over its findings and urged China to provide “full access” to experts. BBC quoted a statement by the 14 countries stating that the mission to Wuhan was “significantly delayed and lacked access to complete, original data and samples”.

“Scientific missions like these should be able to do their work under conditions that produce independent and objective recommendations and findings.” The group pledged to work together with the WHO. Former US President Donald Trump was among those who supported the theory that the virus might have escaped from a lab in China.

Contrary to expectations, the experts team’s report left almost all questions, including that virus emanating from the wet market in Wuhan which was shut down, unanswered. “I would say that in the joint study of the expert mission visited several installations in Wuhan including WIV, biosafety labs and had in-depth candid exchanges with Chinese experts,” Hua said.

“Through their visit, they came to the conclusion that it is extremely unlikely that the virus leaked from the lab. This is one important scientific conclusion reached by the joint mission which issued the report,” she said. When asked whether China would permit a second WHO experts team to visit Wuhan and WIV lab, she said, “I have never said China will not allow joint research. It is not an investigation by the way.” On the possibility of lab leakage, she said that if necessary, the experts team will also conduct the research around the world. “Relevant study is done in Wuhan lab, when will Fort Detrick will be opened to experts?” she said.

On the US and EU allegation of data manipulation, Hua said it is groundless. She said China had mobilised relevant institutions and deployed hundreds of scientists to collect raw data and showed it to the experts’ team.

But at the same time, she said, some information cannot be copied or taken outside China according to China’s security laws. She also rebutted allegations by the US and several other countries that China tried to interfere with the WHO expert groups probe.

“The so-called accusation is groundless. Experts had a positive evaluation of China’s transparency. Outsiders who are not part of origin tracing work are accusing the experts group of interference. This is irresponsible. This caters to rumours and gathers a political agenda,” she said. “This is very clear as some western counties whenever they see something that does not meet their expectations they come up with such allegations. Their accusation will collapse in front of the truth, she said.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

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Draft of WHO-China report says the coronavirus likely spread from animals to humans, lab leak unlikely

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A joint WHO-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is “extremely unlikely,” according to a draft copy obtained by The Associated Press.

The findings were largely as expected and left many questions unanswered. The team proposed further research in every area except the lab leak hypothesis.

The report’s release has been repeatedly delayed, raising questions about whether the Chinese side was trying to skew the conclusions to prevent blame for the pandemic falling on China. A World Health Organization official said late last week that he expected it would be ready for release “in the next few days.”

The AP received what appeared to be a near-final version on Monday from a Geneva-based diplomat from a WHO-member country. It wasn’t clear whether the report might still be changed prior to its release. The diplomat did not want to be identified because they were not authorized to release it ahead of publication.

The researchers listed four scenarios in order of likelihood. They concluded that transmission through a second animal was likely to very likely. They evaluated direct spread from bats to humans as likely and said that spread through “cold-chain” food products was possible but not likely.

The closest relative of the virus that causes COVID-19 has been found in bats, which are known to carry coronaviruses. However, the report says that “the evolutionary distance between these bat viruses and SARS-CoV-2 is estimated to be several decades, suggesting a missing link.”

It said that highly similar viruses have been found in pangolins, but also noted that mink and cats are susceptible to the COVID virus, which suggests they could be carriers.

The report is based largely on a visit by a WHO team of international experts to Wuhan, the Chinese city where COVID-19 was first detected, from mid-January to mid-February.

Peter Ben Embarek, the WHO expert who led the Wuhan mission, said Friday that the report had been finalized and was being fact-checked and translated.

“I expect that in the next few days, that whole process will be completed and we will be able to release it publicly,” he said.

Click here: For the latest news and updates on COVID-19

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

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No indication of COVID-19 virus in Wuhan before December 2019: WHO team

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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WHO team investigating the origin of coronavirus in China’s Wuhan on Tuesday said that there had been no substantial spread of the virus in the city before the late 2019 outbreak.

Liang Wannian, an expert with China’s Health Commission, said that unpublished data suggests that virus that causes COVID-19 could have been circulating in other regions several weeks before the first reported cases in Wuhan at the end of 2019.

Wannian added that the records of 76,000 episodes in Wuhan health centres were analysed. “It’s unlikely that any substantial infection of SARS-CoV2 took place between October and December 2019,” he said.

Addressing a press briefing, Ben Embarek, chairman of the investigating team, said, “Recent Wuhan investigation has uncovered new information but has not dramatically changed the picture of #COVID-19 outbreak.”

The team arrived in Wuhan on January 14 and after two weeks of quarantine, visited key sites like the Huanan seafood market, the location of the first known cluster of infections, as well as the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has been involved in coronavirus research.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

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WHO team to brief media on Wuhan findings on Tuesday

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Members of a World Health Organization-led team looking for clues about the origins of COVID-19 will hold a briefing on Tuesday after nearly a month of meetings and site visits in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the disease was first identified.

The briefing was scheduled for 3.30 pm local time (0730 GMT) on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. The WHO had earlier said it would be at 4 p.m.

The WHO said it would also include experts from the Chinese side who have been involved in the investigation.

The team arrived in Wuhan on Jan. 14 and after two weeks of quarantine, visited key sites like the Huanan seafood market, the location of the first known cluster of infections, as well as the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has been involved in coronavirus research.

Members of the team have sought to rein in expectations about the mission, with zoologist Peter Daszak telling Reuters last week that one of their aims was to ”identify the next steps to fill in the gaps.”

Another team member, infectious disease expert Dominic Dwyer, said it would probably take years to fully understand the origins of COVID-19.

The United States said China needed to be more open when it comes to sharing data and samples as well as allowing access to patients, medical staff and lab workers. Beijing subsequently accused Washington of politicizing a scientific mission.

Click here: For the latest news and updates on COVID-19

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

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WHO team visits Wuhan research lab at center of speculation

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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World Health Organization investigators on Wednesday visited a research center in the Chinese city of Wuhan that has been the subject of speculation about the origins of the coronavirus. The WHO team’s visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology is a highlight of their mission to gather data and search for clues as to where the virus originated and how it spread.

One of China’s top virus research labs, the institute built an archive of genetic information about bat coronaviruses after the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. That has led to unproven allegations that it may have a link to the original outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan in late 2019.

China has strongly denied that possibility and has promoted theories that the virus may have originated elsewhere or even been brought into the country from overseas with imports of frozen seafood tainted with the virus, a notion roundly rejected by international scientists and agencies.

The institute’s deputy director is Shi Zhengli, a virologist who worked with Peter Daszak, a zoologist on the WHO team mission, to track down the origins of SARS that originated in China and led to the 2003 outbreak. She has published widely in academic journalists and worked to debunk theories espoused by the former Trump administration and other American officials that the virus is either a bioweapon or a lab leak from the institute.

Following two weeks in quarantine, the WHO team that includes experts from 10 nations has visited hospitals, research institutes and a traditional wet market linked to many of the first cases. Their visit followed months of negotiations as China seeks to retain tight control over information about the outbreak and the investigation into its origins, possibly to avoid blame for alleged missteps in its early response.

Confirmation of the origins of the virus is likely to take years. Pinning down an outbreaks animal reservoir typically requires exhaustive research including taking animal samples, genetic analysis and epidemiological studies. One possibility is that a wildlife poacher might have passed the virus to traders who carried it to Wuhan.

Also Read: WHO pushes back on Wuhan transparency questions

The first clusters of COVID-19 were detected in Wuhan in late 2019, prompting the government to put the city of 11 million under a strict 76-day lockdown. China has since reported more than 89,000 cases and 4,600 deaths, with new cases largely concentrated in its frigid northeast and local lockdowns and travel restrictions being imposed to contain the outbreaks.

New cases of local transmission continue to fall with just 15 reported on Wednesday as Chinese heed government calls not to travel for the Lunar New Year holiday later this month.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

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WHO pushes back on Wuhan transparency questions

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Officials at the World Health Organization pushed back against suggestions that the UN-led team investigating the origins of the pandemic in China is not getting enough access or data during its ongoing visit to Wuhan.

WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove said the team, comprised of experts from 10 countries, has plans to visit the Wuhan Institute of Virology, among other sites.

We need to give them the space to be able to carry out this scientific study, she said, in response to suggestions that China has been less than transparent about how the outbreak began. WHO’s team arrived in Wuhan last month after a months-long delay to investigate the animal origins of COVID-19.

Dr Michael Ryan, WHO’s emergencies chief, said the agency was continuing to ask for more data and said anyone with information about how the pandemic started should share it with the organization.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow