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| Not on the itinerary: Wuhan Institute of Virology |
A delegation from WHO is in China trying to find the source of the virus. “We must keep an open mind”, says team leader Mike Ryan. But not open enough to demand seeing the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Of which reasonable questions remain, even amongst international virologists. It is, at least, a possibility that the virus escaped from the lab:
Filippa Lentzos, biosecurity researcher at King’s College London, said while there is currently no proof for the lab accident theory, there is also “no real evidence” that the virus came from the wet market. Link
In fact there is now “real evidence” that the virus did not originate in the Wuhan wet market, according to Professor Gao Fu, head of China’s Centre for Disease Control, quoted in SCMP, 23 May:
“We first believed the virus originated in the seafood market, but now it looks like that the market is just another victim. The virus existed [before the infections happened in the market],” Gao said. Link
And there’s still the Five Eyes Intel dossier, in which our joint intelligence bodies assessed widespread Chinese cover up.
Rarely mentioned in press reports is that the French built the facility and have ever since refused to sign off on it, such were their concerns about its safety. Even the WHO has refused to certify the facility. US officials and scientists voiced “grave concerns” about its safety protocols after visits to the Institute back in March 2018.
But the WHO team in China now won’t even visit WIV. Rather like air crash investigators deciding not to look at the wreckage.
“The idea that it was just a totally natural occurrence is circumstantial. The evidence it leaked from the lab is circumstantial. Right now, the ledger on the side of it leaking from the lab is packed with bullet points and there’s almost nothing on the other side,” the official said. Link
One of those bullet points must be the very fact that China refuses access to the WIV. If it were not implicated, why not open it up? Yet all along China has suppressed info and kept even WHO in the dark.
Meantime, the virologist in the centre of the storm, Dr Shi Zhengli, aka “Batwoman” of Wuhan, puts her case to Science magazine. She sounds a fun lady. Speaks fluent French and English and wows conventioneers with her renditions Chinese folk songs. She is, Science says, very professional and highly regarded in the international virologist community.
ADDED: An accidental release of a natural virus is one thing. The virus being bioengineered and released is quite another. To date what I’ve read has told me it weren’t so. Last week an “internationally renowned Italian scientist” published a book claiming just this. By Dr Giuseppe Tritto. He also claims the WIV is now run by the PLA, whereas rest of the media continues to say it comes under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Hmmm…
