Coronavirus Not A Man-Made Virus – Wuhan Virology Lab Director
For the first time, the alleged source of the novel coronavirus, the premier Chinese virology laboratory in Wuhan, denied the allegations, including those of US President Donald Trump, that the virus originated from the Wuhan laboratory.
There was increasing pressure for China over its lack of transparency in handling COVID-19 pandemic, which has infected more than 2 million people and claimed 165,338 so far.
On Saturday, US President Trump said his administration is investigating if the novel coronavirus originated from the Wuhan laboratory before it spread globally.
Trump told the media that he is looking at it, and it seems to make sense. Trump was asked if there was an investigation into whether the virus escaped from the laboratory in Wuhan. Trump had alleged that the kind of bats from where the scientists believe the virus originated wasn’t in that area, and neither was sold in the wet zone.
Ever since the coronavirus came to light, there were speculations on whether the novel coronavirus originated from its nearby Huanan Seafood Market or from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).
The P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology is equipped
to handle dangerous diseases. Yuan Zhiming, the director of WIV, denied the rumors that coronavirus is a man-made virus escaped from the laboratory, for the first time in a media interview.He told the state-run CGTN TV channel that there is no way the virus came from the institute. He said they have a strict regulatory regimen and code of conduct for research.
People can’t help but make associations because the Institute of Virology is in Wuhan, he added.
Some people are “deliberately misleading” people without having any “evidence or knowledge,” Yuan said, referring to US allegations. There is no evidence to prove that the virus is man-made.
Synthesizing a virus needs extraordinary workload and intelligence. Yuan doesn’t believe that humans have the ability to create a virus at this time.
The institute had previously shared the genome sequence of the virus and the latest research on animal model Research and Development (R&D) with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as well as the World Health Organization. The institute of laboratory animal science and institute of virology is the first in the world to build animal models.
The United States is conducting a complete investigation into whether the novel coronavirus is a man-made virus escaped from a lab in Wuhan.
