WHO team visits Wuhan virology lab 

Security personnel stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan as members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team arrive

Experts led by the World Health Organisation investigating the origins of coronavirus visited on Wednesday a major research institute in Wuhan at the center of conspiracy theories that claim a lab leak caused the world’s first outbreak in late 2019. 

The team, gathered from all over the globe, spent 3.5 hours at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a high-level biosafety lab that studies some of the world’s most dangerous pathogens. 

Most scientists have rejected the idea that the coronavirus causing the Covid-19 pandemic escaped from this facility. But some have not ruled out the possibility that a virus, originally captured in the wild for scientific research, may have infected a staff member causing infection spread. 

Donald Trump and his supporters seized on rumours and amplified them with conspiracy theories that China deliberately leaked the virus.

The US-secretary of state Mike Pompeo insisted last year that there was "significant evidence" that the virus came from the lab, while releasing no proof and acknowledging that there was no certainty.

Journalists approach Peter Daszak, a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) team tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease

China, however, has vehemently denied these theories while resisting calls to release details of coronavirus samples studied at the lab to see which might be most similar to the one that has now infected more than 100 million people, killing another 2.25 million worldwide.

Beijing has instead pushed its own origin conspiracy theories, claiming the coronavirus was brought into the country from abroad, tossing out a range of unsubstantiated ideas. Last year, a Chinese official accused the US military of bringing the virus to Wuhan and infecting the local population. 

More recently, the government has blamed imported food packaging as the culprit. But the WHO has said such instances of live viruses are “rare and isolated,” and that it’s unclear whether that’s enough to cause infections in humans. 

Chinese authorities are halting or delaying food imports for inspection and sanitisation, citing concerns of subsequent outbreaks as officials have largely been able to contain the coronavirus with aggressive social distancing, quarantine and mass testing measures. 

Authorities have carted people off to jail for refusing to wear face masks and sentenced one woman to prison for concealing coronavirus symptoms on a flight from the US to China last year. 

This week, police in Jilin province began investigating a man, an asymptomatic coronavirus case, for violating disease control rules and infecting 82 people in a recent outbreak. Under Chinese law, it’s illegal to spread major contagious diseases, like Covid-19 – a crime punishable by up to 7 years, according to state media.

But the man, surnamed Lin, was discovered as an asymptomatic case on Jan 9 and thus wasn’t aware that he posed any risk to others, leading to legal controversy over whether a crime was actually committed. 

The WHO team, which landed on Jan 14, has yet to announce findings from the trip. After a two-week quarantine the experts are now engaging in two weeks of field work, which is expected to conclude next week.