Almost two years after the outbreak of COVID-19, the origin of the virus remains a mystery. Did the virus jump from animal to human in a natural spillover event, or was it the result of a lab leak? The new book investigates these and other questions about the sources of the coronavirus that have killed more than 5 million people worldwide so far.
“We haven’t come to a conclusion, but it’s more likely that there will be a slight lab leak at this stage,” said a British science writer. Matt Ridley, Co-authored “Virus: Search for the Origin of Covid-19 “ Canadian Molecular biologist Alina ChanA postdoctoral fellow specializing in gene therapy and cell engineering at MIT’s Broad Institute and Harvard University.
“It’s not where either of us started. We started thinking it was probably a natural spillover event, but as evidence builds up in favor of lab leaks and opposition to wildlife market events. We have come to the conclusion that it is a little more likely. “
Ridley made a comment inside Webinar On November 25, he and Chan commented on the findings in their book: “The virus most closely related to subtropical bats in southern China has somehow begun to spread among people more than 1,500 kilometers away. We are trying to reach the root of the method. According to the book’s explanation, the city of Wuhan. “
Being accurate is dangerous to the world #OriginOfCovid It remains a mystery.
Until we can rule out the origin of the laboratory, we must act as if it might have happened.
My article (now free on my website): https://t.co/pxSyjxvGHw pic.twitter.com/VUksYspa5Y
— Matt Ridley (@mattwridley) November 27, 2021
“Race traitorAccording to Pro-Beijing supporters, after pointing out the possibility of a lab leak in 2020, she was accused of disseminating false information and met people who still dismiss the hypothesis as a conspiracy theory. Said to be surprised.
“Even the US intelligence community says that the origin of the lab is a plausible origin of COVID-19,” she said in a webinar hosted by the Ottawa-based McDonald’s Laurier Institute.
on October 29, The Director of National Intelligence of the United States office evaluation Although the intelligence community is divided by the most probable origins of COVID-19, all institutions have stated that “both natural and laboratory-related incidents are the methods by which SARS-CoV-2 first infects humans. It’s a plausible hypothesis. “
Proponents of the theory of natural origin could not find direct evidence that the virus transmitted from animals to humans, causing a pandemic that began to involve the world in early 2020, Chan said.
“Chinese scientists sampling 80,000 animal samples told us that they hadn’t found any traces of a virus like SARS2,” she said.
“Despite covering thousands of animal samples throughout the wildlife trade from 2017 to today, the SARS2-like viruses found were limited to three pangoline coronaviruses. Pangolins are not for sale In the Wuhan market leading up to the pandemic. “
Saving the laboratory-origin hypothesis from being criticized by experts as a conspiracy theory called for the ingenuity and determination of many scientists, journalists, and detectives whose stories are described in our books. ..
— Alina Chan (@Ayjchan) November 17, 2021
Gain of function research
According to Ridley, the World Health Organization (WHO) acted under the influence of Beijing in the early stages of the pandemic, ignoring Taiwan’s warning that the virus could spread from person to person.
When the WHO team traveled to Wuhan January To carry out the investigation in 2021, they held a press conference in support of a “ridiculous” proposal from Chinese scientists that the virus arrived in Wuhan via frozen foods, following the instructions of the Chinese administration. .. Wet markets in source countries or farms, on the way, or in other cities. ”
Ridley and Chan tend to think that the virus may have been designed before it was released, even though it was devoted to the possibility that the naturally occurring virus was “leaked by the incident.” Said there is. .. ”
From 2018, he said he came across a document that the EcoHealth Alliance, a U.S.-based non-profit health organization, has planned to “essentially create them” in collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Vessels (WIV). I did. [novel coronaviruses] It is easier to grow on those cells so that you can better study human cells in the laboratory. ”
According to the book, one of those documents was released by September Drastic, A group of analysts focused on research on the origin of COVID, whose members publish numerous academic papers, articles, blog posts, and Twitter threads on this subject. How Peter Daszak, Head of the EcoHealth Alliance, requested a $ 14.2 million grant from the Pentagon in March 2018 to fund research with eco-health collaborators in Wuhan and elsewhere. I outlined about.
“The application eventually failed, but its content revealed an extensive roadmap for collecting and experimenting with potentially pandemic SARS-like viruses.” The author wrote.
Dazak’s proposal was rejected because “this approach may include gain of function research, but did not mention or assess the potential risks of gain of function research and DURC.” .. [Dual Use of Research Concern].. ‘”
The book states that the 2018 document explains some plans that Dazak denied in 2020-it’s wild. Rhinolophus bat (horseshoe-shaped bat) It was to be stored and tested at the Wuhan Institute of Vase.
“By that time, it became clear that the EcoHealth Alliance and its collaborators had already discovered more than 180 unique SARS-like viruses in about 10,000 samples,” the author writes.
“In other words, this early 2018 proposal shows that the EcoHealth Alliance and WIV own a semi-private collection of viruses like SARS. They are conducting recombinant virus infection experiments on various cells. They were also intended to spread to animals and animals. They also showed a workflow for identifying new cleavage sites and inserting them into viruses such as new spikes and new SARS in the lab. “
Chan said the GoF study, which seeks to increase the infectivity or severity of pathogen-induced illnesses:you can Predict how wild natural virus can evolution NS Spill that’s all When Cause Pandemic, ”Is not rewarded.
“Comparing the risks and benefits, the risk of developing dangerous pathogens in the lab is that they can leak and actually cause a pandemic, but the benefits are actually unknown,” she said. rice field.
According to Ridley, lab leaks have been occurring for years, even from laboratories designated as Biosafety Level 4.
He said the Laborak hypothesis could easily be disproved if China was willing to remain transparent about the work being done at WIV during the outbreak of the virus.
“All that they have to do to open the file and show the exact sample of the virus they were dealing with in the lab, all the sequences, all the histories, where they came from, what kind of experiments Shows if it was done. With them. “
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Isaac Teo is a Toronto-based Epoch Times reporter.