US House Republican report on Covid-19 origin claims ample evidence to prove Wuhan lab leak theory documents seen by media
Citing procurement notices, interviews and other open-sourced data, an upcoming US congressional report on the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic has apparently uncovered âample evidenceâ to prove the disputed Wuhan lab leak theory.
Despite Chinaâs repeated dismissals, the idea that the virus emerged from a scientific laboratory in the city â" and not from a âwet marketâ source â" has been resurrected in recent months.
The theoryâs proponents in the US have pointed to supposedly faulty lab safety procedures and alleged Chinese government and military involvement in engineering the virus and releasing it.
Now, Republicans on the US House Foreign Affairs Committee have compiled material that reportedly shows the novel coronavirus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) âsometime prior to September 12, 2019â â" at which time, it claims, Chinese authorities brought in an army biological weapons expert and boosted security, ventilation, and air disinfection systems.
On that day, the WIVâs viral sequence database disappeared from the internet and the institute put out an announcement for âsecurity servicesâ at the lab to âhandle the âregistration and reception of foreign personnel,ââ according to Fox News, which said it had obtained a copy of the report.
Also on rt.com China refuses to participate in 2nd phase of WHOâs Covid origins probe, says research into lab leak theory goes against âscienceâAnother clincher for the report was based on testimony from an unnamed âformer senior US officialâ who apparently said Major General Chen Wei, a biology and chemical weapon expert, took control of the WIVâs biosafety level-4 (BSL-4) lab in late 2019.
According to the news outlet, the report points to the timing of her appointment as proof that authorities were âconcerned about the activity happening there as news of the virus was spreading.â It reasoned that this meant the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) âknew about the virus earlier, and that the outbreak began earlier.â
As further proof of this alternative timeline, the report points to news stories about athletes apparently developing Covid-like symptoms in November 2019 after participating at the World Military Games hosted in Wuhan in October 2019. The virus first gained international prominence in December 2019.
Another âcircumstantial elementâ in the report, as noted by Fox News, was a âsignificant renovationâ project by the nearby Wuhan National Biosafety Lab months before the outbreak. Since it had been operational for less than two years, the report said it was âunusualâ that the research facilities needed major work on their air safety and waste treatment systems.
The full report of the investigation â" conducted by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the ranking GOP member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee â" will apparently be released in September. The same month, an official US intelligence community review of the pandemicâs origins, ordered by President Joe Biden in May, is expected to be released.
Also on rt.com Beijing renews its call for Fort Detrick biolab probe as 4.7 million Chinese petition WHO to search in US for Covid originsThe report also relied on interviews with foreign scientists working at the lab to back up some of its conclusions, but which appear to contradict them instead. For instance, it cited a Bloomberg interview with Australian virologist Dr. Danielle Anderson who worked at the WIVâs BSL-4 lab till November 2019.
In that June interview, Dr. Anderson spoke to the publication about the stringent safety procedures at the lab and maintained that she knows of no one at the WIV who had fallen ill at the time. She also expressed her belief that the virus was not man-made.
This echoed the conclusion reached by a WHO investigation earlier this year that said the virus most likely had natural origins and had been transmitted to humans from an animal. However, US skepticism over that report has prompted calls for another probe by the UN health body.
Last month, the WHO called for a second stage of investigations, which would include âaudits of relevant laboratories and research institutionsâ in Wuhan. But Chinaâs vice health minister, Zeng Yixin, countered that the plan showed âdisrespect for common sense and arrogance towards science.â
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