A former senior Chinese scientist stated that we should not rule out the possibility that the Covid virus may have leaked from a lab. Professor George Gao, a virologist and immunologist, holds a viewpoint that is in glaring contrast to the Chinese government’s denial of any possibility that the virus originated in a Wuhan laboratory.
In the BBC Radio 4 podcast Fever: The Hunt for Covid’s Origin, Chinese scientist Prof. Gao, the former director of China’s Centre for Disease Control (CDC), expressed that we can always suspect anything. Science is that. Don’t rule anything out.
Prof Gao is now vice president of the National Natural Science Foundation of China after retiring last year from the CDC, where he played a key role in the pandemic response and efforts to trace how it started.
The Chinese Embassy in the UK accused the BBC of being told a lie created by anti-China forces regarding the so-called ‘lab leak.’ It is politically motivated and has no scientific basis.” The theory that the virus accidentally leaked from a laboratory resurfaced in February when the FBI’s director said this is where it “most likely” originated – although there is no consensus among US intelligence agencies on the question.
BBC Reports
The BBC reports that many scientists say the weight of evidence suggests that a natural origin – the virus spreading from animals to humans – is the most likely scenario.Another suggestion is that the virus infected someone involved in research designed to better understand the threat of viruses emerging from nature.
Wuhan is home to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), one of China’s top national laboratories known to have spent years studying coronaviruses.Professor Gao informed the BBC that experts in the field carried out a formal investigation into the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and double-checked the lab.
He stated that although he hasn’t seen the result himself, someone informed him that the lab had given a clean bill of health. Prof. Gao further added, “I think they concluded that they are following all the protocols.” They haven’t found (any) wrongdoing.”
Searches for potential explanations for the virus early in the pandemic focused on Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Market and hospitals near it. The World Health Organization conducted an investigation into Covid’s origin and stated that it was “extremely unlikely” that the virus leaked from a lab.
The Chinese government rejected plans for a second phase of the investigation, which involved audits of laboratories in the Wuhan area, as stated in the podcast.
