COVID-19: Did the coronavirus escape from the Wuhan laboratory?

Mysterious origin of Coronavirus Has led to a lot of speculation about Chinaof Wuhan Virology Institute, A research center run by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, established in 1956.

President Trump Speculating that the virus was accidentally-or intentionally-leaked from the Wuhan Institute, Said a lot at Fox News Town Hall“It’s a terrible thing that has happened. Did they make a mistake, or it started as a mistake and made another mistake, or did someone deliberately do something?”

Secretary of State Mike Pompio He said he saw “a huge amount of evidence” about this. But neither Trump nor Pompeo has produced any proof.

The Chinese government intensified these claims and blamed both Trump and Pompeo in the editorial department. Published in the state-run Global Times newspaper:

Pompeo said that his claim is backed by “enormous evidence”, so he should present this so-called evidence to the world, and especially to the Americans he is constantly trying to deceive. The truth is that Pompeo had no evidence and he was bluffing during the Sunday interview.

Hua Chunying, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Argued It was part of a smear campaign against China intended to help Trump in the 2020 elections.

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Here’s what scientists and intelligence agencies say

National Intelligence Service Office April 30 statement released Addressing the origin nature of coronaviruses:

The intelligence community also agrees with a broad scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not artificial or genetically modified … The IC scrutinizes the information and intelligence that is occurring and identifies animals infected by outbreaks. It started as a result of the contact, or the result of an accident at the Wuhan Institute.

NBC Intelligence analysts Since a document indicating that there was no mobile phone activity was received by a part of Wuhan Institute, the document creator said “There was a” dangerous event “between October 6 and October 11. I believe that there is. “

However, in NBC News London“It provides no direct evidence of a shutdown, nor any theory that the virus happened to emerge from the lab,” the analyst at the base said.

And US intelligence agency told NBC The document appeared inconsistent and made allegations that were not true. NBC News said, “… After investigating the bird’s-eye view image and its own data, the spy agency was unable to confirm the shutdown and determined that the report was not” conclusive “. “

by NBC News coverage, US intelligence officials are skeptical of the little information presented, telling NBC News: “There is no evidence of a” smoking gun “pointing in that direction. Never. “

of New York Times Even intelligence agents, who believe the lab is the source of the leak, have seen only circumstantial evidence, most of which is public.

“And among scientists, especially virologists, the chances of an outbreak being caused by a laboratory accident are minimal, while new viruses leap from animals to humans in non-laboratory settings in southern China. It is very likely to do so.

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What is the most likely scenario?

Coronavirus Common to all types of animals Usually it just catches a cold in humans. However, most scientists believe that this particular coronavirus originated in bats before they jumped the species and eventually became infected in humans.

March 17, Article titled “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2” Published in Natural medicine.. The article clearly concludes that the virus is a naturally occurring virus and is likely to have been previously derived from bats. Potentially jumped to pangolin And finally adapted to infect humans. In this article, the coronavirus Rhinolopus affinis Bats were about 96% identical to human coronaviruses.

Given the similarity between SARS-CoV-2 and coronaviruses such as the bat SARS-CoV, the Malay pangolin (Manis JavanicaIllegal imports into Guangdong contain the same coronavirus as SARS-CoV-2. Although the RaTG13 bat virus remains closest to SARS-CoV-2 throughout the genome, some pangolin coronaviruses show strong similarities to RBD SARS-CoV-2.

Most scientists believe that the coronavirus leapt from animals to humans in the South China Seafood Market in Hubei, China.

Dr. Michelle Barker, an immunologist who studied the bat virus, The market is Although apparently linked to the infection, it also explains that most researchers do not explicitly want to declare the market as a place where the disease jumped the species, as they are not given access to the scene. Did.

“The market was cleared up very quickly. We can only guess.” I told the Guardian.

However, the wet market has a particularly controversial history H5N1 avian influenza virus released in Hong Kong with other severe acute respiratory syndrome.. A “wet market” is where seafood is offered for sale in a container of water and other exotic animals such as poultry, snakes and badgers are also alive.

Professor Stephen Turner of Monash University, Melbourne, says animals in the market that may have infected humans are unknown. Infects cats and dogs And Even in tigers..

according to, Articles published in Lancet, The market was closed on January 1st, after an epidemiological alert was sent on December 31st, 2019. By that time, 41 were positive.

On January 13, the first case was reported in Thailand outside China, Two days later, The first infected from Wuhan arrived in the United States.

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