Wuhan Institute of Virology breaks silence amid global clamour that Covid originated there

Amid the deadly coronavirus pandemic, the director of Wuhan Institute of Virology Yuan Zhiming denied claims that the laboratory could be the source of the COVID-19 outbreak. Zhiming in an interview with the Chinese media called it "impossible" and said that there's no way the virus came them.

In an interview with state media, Yuan Zhiming said that none of his staff had been infected, and the "whole institute is carrying out research in different areas related to the coronavirus". The laboratory’s director said that media outlets are trying to mislead people. “As people who carry out viral studies we clearly know what kind of research is going on at the institute and how the institute manages viruses and samples,” he said. “I know it’s impossible.”

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Chinese scientists have said the virus likely jumped from an animal to humans in a market that sold wildlife. But the existence of the virology institute with a high-security biosafety laboratory has fuelled conspiracy theories that the germ spread from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, specifically its P4 laboratory which is equipped to handle dangerous viruses.

Several theories are circling about the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s P4 laboratory, which is equipped to handle dangerous viruses. The United States, which has repeatedly accused China of concealing the origin and seriousness of the coronavirus from the world, is probing whether the pandemic actually originated in the institute. This has made Beijing come under increasing pressure over transparency in its handling of the pandemic.

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Earlier in February, the institute had already dismissed the theory, saying it had shared information about the pathogen with the World Health Organization in early January.

Recently, US media in an investigative report claimed that the initial transmission of the virus was bat-to-human and the "patient zero" worked at the laboratory where it was being studied in Wuhan - the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Reports have quoted anonymous sources who voiced concern that the virus may have come -- accidentally -- from the facility. 

Replying to which, Yuan said the reports were "entirely based on speculation" without "evidence or knowledge". 

Authorities in Wuhan initially tried to cover up the outbreak and there have been questions about the official tally of infections with the government repeatedly changing its counting criteria at the peak of the outbreak. This week authorities in the city admitted mistakes in counting its death toll and abruptly raised the figure by 50 per cent. A US investigative report claimed that the virus was first accidentally leaked by an intern at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, who was 'patient zero'. The intern in question allegedly first infected her boyfriend, after which it meandered its way to the wet-market where it did eventually proliferate.

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US blames China

But the US-China blame game has brought the rumours into the mainstream, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying US officials are doing a "full investigation" into how the virus "got out into the world". Also, President Donald Trump also said that the US is looking into reports that the novel coronavirus, which has killed more than 150,000 people globally, "escaped" from a virology laboratory in China's Wuhan city.

"We're looking at it, a lot of people are looking at it. It seems to make sense," Trump told reporters at a White House news conference on Friday when asked if there was an investigation into whether the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China. 

The coronavirus-related cases in the world have now mounted to 2,414,098 and the deaths at 165,153. The US has, so far, recorded 764,265 coronavirus positive cases and 40,565 deaths. Whereas, China has reported over 82,747 positive cases and 4,632 deaths so far.

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(with agencies' inputs)