Viewers listen as testimony is read before the House Selections Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. Posted by Win McNamee/Getty Images North America Claims that Covid-19 leaked out of a lab were once vehemently dismissed as «trumped-up charges» — the ravings of a US president who seemed to maliciously blame China for the pandemic.
Now, after 18 months of extensive research and analysis, the US Senate Committee has published its full 304-page report on the matter, and it is drawing attention.
The committee concludes: “Most of the circumstantial evidence confirms an unintentional incident related to the study.”
It even seems that China started producing vaccines before it admitted to the world that a dangerous virus was spreading across the country.
Here The Telegraph describes 10 things we learned from the US Senate report.
1. China may have started making vaccines before it let the world know about Covid-19
Committee research shows that a team led by Professor Yusen Zhou of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS) filed a patent for a Covid-19 vaccine in February 24, 2020
Vaccine developers interviewed by investigators say it would take at least two to three months to reach that stage, meaning work should have started in November 2019, a month before China released details about the virus.
The report also revealed «uncertainty» regarding the death of Professor Zhou, who died sometime in the spring of 2020. The Chinese government has not acknowledged his death or circumstances.
2. Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) may have sold laboratory animals for human consumption
Scientists in Wuhan were experimenting with the same animal species sold at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where the first Covid outbreak occurred.
WIV's Dr. Shi Zhengli previously confirmed that the team was experimenting with palm civets, which were intermediate hosts for the 2003 SARS epidemic. An average of 29 pieces per month were sold at 17 food markets in Wuhan.
While there is no evidence that WIV researchers sold experimental animals rather than slaughtered them, there is a precedent for this behavior in China, the authors of the report note. .
On January 3, 2020, a professor at China Agricultural University in Beijing was convicted of corruption and selling animals and animal products after laboratory experiments.
In October 2020, China's new biosafety and biosecurity legislation explicitly prohibited «the placing on the market of animals used in experiments.»
3. Wuhan scientists filed 13 biosecurity patents six months before the pandemic
In April 2019, WIV released details on patents to improve the physical containment of dangerous pathogens in its laboratories.
One patent addressed the problem of maintaining airtight seals on gastight doors and warned of the potential problem of existing door seals leaking slowly over time.
WIV provided details on patents to improve the physical containment of dangerous pathogens in its laboratories. Credit & Copyright: Barcroft Media/Getty Images Contributor
Another patent suggested ways to improve sterilizers and air filters. Another proposal was based on the problem of maintaining the sterilization temperature.
4. Wuhan scientists were required to complete mandatory biosecurity training on November 19, 2019
On November 19, 2019, a month before the announcement of the virus, WIV held a special training session by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The official came from Beijing to convey «important verbal and written instructions» from the top leadership of the PRC to the WIV regarding the «difficult and serious situation related to [bio]security work.»
At the meeting, the deputy director of the Office of Security and The WIV “pointed out the serious consequences that could arise” from biosecurity lapses.
The session was followed by a two-day training course on therapeutic biosecurity for WIV researchers and staff from other research institutes in Wuhan, including Wuhan University.
5. On September 18, 2019, Wuhan city officials conducted an emergency exercise at the airport to identify passengers infected with the novel coronavirus. airport. This included identifying and responding to an incoming passenger infected with the novel coronavirus.
In the same month, the National People's Congress drafted a bill to strengthen the management of pathogen research laboratories and improve compliance with national biosecurity standards and requirements.
6. New start date for the pandemic
The virus appears to have arrived much earlier than China acknowledged, likely between October 28 and November 10, when US diplomats commented on an unusually «severe flu season» in Wuhan and satellites recorded an increase in hospital traffic.
The deputy head of the consulate recalled: “By mid-October 2019, a task force at the US Consulate General in Wuhan knew that the city was being hit by what was considered an unusually violent flu season. The illness escalated in November.”
Doctors in Wuhan reported that classes at some high schools were temporarily canceled in November 2019 as students contracted severe influenza.
7. In December 2019, social media posts about Covid-like illnesses rose near Wuhan animal experiment campuses. WIV campus in Xiaoshonghan, as well as Wuhan University.
The grouping may support the potential spread from an infected researcher or laboratory animal.
8. The pandemic could have been caused by two side events two weeks apart
The report says that epidemiological and genetic analysis of early circulating strains of Wuhan Covid confirms the possibility of two side effects two or more weeks apart.
The evaluation was based on slight genetic differences in early circulating strains, suggesting that two lines of the same virus may have originated simultaneously and developed along different pathways, or been successively separated by some period of time.
One line showed more mutations than the other, meaning that it has been circulating longer than the other, or has potentially passed through more people.
Epidemiological modeling and reports of early Covid cases have shown that the period from mid-October to mid-November 2019 was the most likely period for the virus to enter the human body.
9. By 2019, WIV had collected 20,000 bat and animal samples, but had not detected all viruses
As a result of field expeditions, Wuhan researchers had collected at least 20,000 bat and animal virus samples from all over China by 2019.< /p
Until 2019, WIV published sequences to a public database, but this was taken offline in September 2019.
It is reported that the database contains about 100 unpublished sequences of the betacoronavirus subgenus to which Covid-19 belongs.
The authors of the report say that undisclosed sequences may contain strains that are closer to Covid-19 than previously disclosed viruses.
10. The scientists worked with centrifuges that could spray the virus into the air.
WIV researchers examined thousands of bat coronavirus samples and used centrifuges in experiments.
The authors of the report note that centrifuges can generate large amounts of dangerous infectious aerosols.
“A catastrophic mechanical failure can lead not only to the formation of aerosols, but also to dangerous fragments that can lead to personal injury, the report concludes.
«The centrifuge can also produce large quantities of unknown hazardous infectious aerosols if not operated properly, which also poses a risk of repeated exposure.»
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