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SCIENTISTS, campaigners and a top MP have urged governments to stop “hiding” key intelligence on the origins of Covid.
Four years after Britain was first plunged into lockdown as the pandemic gripped the nation, the origins of the virus remain a mystery.
Reuters
Wuhan Virology Institute
EcoHealth AllianceIn a bid to stop another pandemic, officials have vowed to continue pushing for answers on how – and why – Covid first emerged near a lab in Wuhan.
They have called for “secret” intelligence “hidden in government filing cabinets” to finally be released in order to piece together the puzzle.
MP Bob Seely said uncovering the origins is hugely “important for the future of humanity”.
He warned that if lessons are not learned, and the truth is not found, another pandemic could be “10 times more lethal”.
But Western powers have “shown a bizarre level of disinterest” – and China “will become angry if they are forced to admit” the virus came from a Chinese lab, he warned.
Evidence of a lab leak has been piling up over the last four years as top politicians, scientists, researchers and whistleblowers hunt for answers.
Covid first emerged just a stone’s throw from the Wuhan Institute of Virology – a high security facility specialising in bat coronaviruses – and questions have raged since over whether Covid leaked from the lab.
Many scientists and intelligence officials suspect bungling researchers at the lab accidentally spread Covid during risky experiments.
Scientists claim that Covid was “exquisitely matched”, “completely pre-adapted” and “supercharged” for humans when it first emerged in Wuhan in 2019.
This has raised suspicions about whether it occurred naturally – and an animal origin has never been found.
It’s suggested by some that the virus had been meddled with and souped by in so-called Frankenvirus experiments at the Wuhan lab.
In January, bombshell documents revealed that US scientists planned to engineer viruses at the Wuhan lab with the same unique features of Covid.
The FBI and the US Department of Energy now believe Covid most likely leaked from a lab in China.
Even the head of the World Health Organisation reportedly believes Covid did leak from the lab after a “catastrophic accident”.
But so far, there has been no concrete evidence to pinpoint how the virus started.
Gary Ruskin, executive director of US Right to Know, a non-profit that has been proving the origins of Covid for four years, said the “weight of the evidence seems to support the hypothesis of a lab leak”.
We’re still trying to unlock the secrets hidden in government filing cabinets
Gary RuskinBut he is determined to get answers.
He told The Sun: “Four years after the lockdowns began, we still don’t have a definitive answer to where Covid came from.
“While the weight of the evidence seems to support the hypothesis of a lab leak in Wuhan, the case is not proven.
“At US Right to Know, our investigation on Covid-19 origins continues on.
“We’re still filing FOI lawsuits and reading thousands of pages of new documents. We’re still trying to unlock the secrets hidden in government filing cabinets.
“It is our hope that, working together with scientists, journalists and citizens across the world, we can still come up with answers.”
The next time this might happen because of weak biosecurity rules in the world, it might be 10 times more lethal
Bob SeelyTory MP Mr Seely has been trying to hold a debate in Parliament on the origins of Covid for months.
He said the world deserves to know the truth – and whether Chinese scientists were “manipulating” the virus before it spread across the world.
Mr Seely told The Sun: “It is really important we know the origins – because it may happen again.
“I don’t really care about Downing Street gossip – I care if this came from a laboratory and was released because of sloppy handling, or if it was human engineered and released by accident.
“The next time this might happen because of weak biosecurity rules in the world, it might be 10 times more lethal.”
The MP said Covid “almost certainly came out of the laboratory” – but it’s not yet known if it was being “stored for research or manipulated”.
The Chinese will become angry if they are forced to admit that the Covid pandemic came out of a Chinese lab
Bob Seely“We need to know for the sake of the truth… this is really important for the future of humanity,” he said.
“It’s extraordinary considering the damage Covid has done to the world that China has pretty much got away with taking no responsibility about the fact they may have accidentally leaked it from a lab.
“The Chinese will become angry if they are forced to admit that the Covid pandemic came out of a Chinese lab.
“[But] we have a duty to find this out because truth is important.”
Experts claim the Wuhan Institute of Virology endangered the world by carrying out so-called “gain of function” experiments to engineer viruses.
AFP
AFP
AP
Social Media - Refer to SourceThis “souping up” involves extracting viruses from animals to engineer in a lab to make them more transmissible and deadly to humans.
And documents obtained by The Intercept show EcoHealth Alliance was working on gain of function research with the lab.
The New York-based organisation studied bat coronaviruses with researchers at the Wuhan lab for more than ten years – funded by grants from the US government.
EcoHealth Alliance and the National Institute of Health have both denied carrying out this type of research in China.
Anti-animal testing lobby group White Coat Waste Project exposed the “batty bankrolling of dangerous animal experiments at the Wuhan lab” four years ago.
EcoHealth Alliance is ultimately at fault for failing to tell the world what was really going on at China’s Wuhan Institute
Senator Joni ErnstDays later, former US president Donald Trump cut off funding to the lab over the dangerous experiments on coronaviruses.
White Coat Waste revealed how New York-based EcoHealth Alliance were working with scientists at the Wuhan lab.
They also revealed that Covid’s likely “Patient Zero” was a US-funded animal experimenter doing coronavirus tests on humanised mice at the lab.
Justin Goodman, Senior Vice President at White Coat Waste Project, told The Sun: “Based on our ongoing investigations and other damning evidence, the Wuhan lab leak has gone from conspiracy theory to conspiracy fact.”
He said “a growing majority of Americans and experts including the Biden Administration’s FBI and Department of Energy now endorse the lab leak origin of Covid”.
Mr Goodman added: “Reckless government spending likely caused Covid – so we’re continuing to lead efforts with Congress to defund unaccountable foreign animal labs, stop gain-of-function experiments and cut off the notorious and non-compliant EcoHealth Alliance.
“The key to preventing another pandemic prompted by taxpayer-funded animal experiments is simple: Stop the money. Stop the madness.”
Lawmakers and scientists have repeatedly called for an end to “reckless virus hunting around the world”.
Reckless government spending likely caused Covid
Justin GoodmanSenator Joni Ernst said EcoHealth Alliance is guilty of either “complacency or a cover-up” after a Department of Health and Human Services investigation found the non-profit “mismanaged” grants in Wuhan.
She previously told The Sun: “EcoHealth Alliance is ultimately at fault for failing to tell the world what was really going on at China’s Wuhan Institute.
“EcoHealth was paid millions, promising their hunt for bat viruses would protect the world from a pandemic… well, the world got a pandemic, and EcoHealth keeps getting millions.”
EcoHealth Alliance has denied any wrongdoing over its experiments – and categorically denied any link to the origins of Covid.
China has refused to cooperate with a full-scale probe into the origins and experts claim a “cover up” is continuing today.
What happened in Wuhan?
THE Wuhan Institute of Virology has been at the centre of the lab leak theory ever since Covid first emerged just a stone's throw from the facility - which was known to be studying very similar bat viruses.
Declassified intelligence documents confirmed Wuhan scientists first fell sick in late 2019 with Covid-like symptoms – raising questions over whether they were accidentally infected in the lab.
Scientist Shi Zhengli – dubbed ‘Batwoman’ – had been experimenting with bat coronaviruses for years at the Wuhan lab.
The lab began hunting the origin of SARS viruses in 2003, attracted US-government funding and was shown cutting-edge virus manipulation techniques.
They were running secret dangerous secret experiments combining the most deadly coronaviruses – which it initially made public and justified by claiming it could help develop vaccines.
But many scientists and intelligence officials suspect researchers at the lab accidentally spread Covid during risky so-called “gain of function” experiments on coronaviruses.
Both China and the lab have furiously denied any allegations – but evidence of a lab leak has been piling up as scientists, researchers and governments hunt for answers and step forward with evidence.
Investigators combing for clues have uncovered documents pointing to alleged cover-ups, plans to make viruses with the exact same features as Covid, and apparent links to the Chinese military.
Other reports have named Covid ‘Patient Zero’ as a Wuhan scientist and even China’s own government scientist said a lab leak should not be ruled out.
The Sun also interviewed a Wuhan lab leak whistleblower who claimed he was trailed by the FBI to silence him.
And a bombshell study uncovered a string of biosafety hazards at “crowded and chaotic” labs in Wuhan – including filthy animal cages and crumbling sewers.
The FBI and the US Department of Energy now believe Covid most likely leaked from a lab in China.
Former intelligence chiefs and diplomats have claimed Covid was leaked from a Wuhan lab in the “cover-up of the century”.
And the World Health Organisation reportedly believes Covid did leak from the lab after a “catastrophic accident”.
Despite many theories emerging, scientists and researchers have not yet been able to determine the origins of the pandemic – with a lab leak and a natural source both being probed.
China has long been accused of attempting to cover up or distort its role in the story of Covid – something it denies.
English (US) 