Global Courant 2023-04-18 13:09:58
Security personnel stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology – THOMAS PETER
The pandemic likely stemmed from a “research-related incident” at a lab in Wuhan, China, a lengthy report from the US Senate concluded.
It said the theory that Covid-19 jumped from animal to human in a market no longer deserved “presumption of accuracy”.
The 300-page report, released to Axios, was the full version of a 35-page summary published in October by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
It read: “The Covid-19 pandemic was, more than likely, the result of a research-related incident.
New information, made public and independently verifiable, could change this assessment.
“However, the hypothesis of a natural zoonotic origin no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt, or presumption of accuracy.”
The report suggested that proponents of the natural transmission theory “must provide clear and convincing evidence” for their argument.
It concluded: “The preponderance of information confirms the plausibility of a study-related incident that was likely unintentional due to biosafety control failures during vaccine-related research.”
No evidence for a natural overflow
Scientists and US Intelligence, are divided on whether the pandemic originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which had collected and manipulated bat viruses, or from a natural overflow at a live animal market in Wuhan.
The report said there were “anomalies” between Covid-19 and other diseases that have passed naturally from animals to humans.
And it said that three years later no critical evidence had been found that there was a natural overflow.
It added that the virus had not spread in different places and at different times, as might be expected if that was the cause.
The report also noted that the type of bat closest to carrying the virus to Covid-19 lived more than 1,000 miles from Wuhan.
However, the lab had collected more than 200 coronaviruses and workers had been photographed handling bats with inadequate protective gear, the report said.
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Scientists there were involved in research aimed at preventing future pandemics and had sought funding to develop coronaviruses, it said.
Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, pictured in January 2020, was at the center of a row over the origins of Covid-19 – Dake Kang
The report said: “An investigation-related incident is consistent with the early epidemiology (of Covid-19) showing a rapid spread of the virus in Wuhan, with the first calls for help being near WIV’s original downtown campus. from Wuhan.
In short, human error, mechanical failure, animal bites, animal escapes, inadequate training, insufficient funding and pressure to achieve results can lead to the escape of virulent pathogens, which in turn can infect animals and humans and lead to a release of a virus from a lab.”
No definitive conclusion
However, the report did not reach a “conclusive” conclusion about the origins of the pandemic.
It said: “More information is needed to arrive at a more accurate, if not definitive, understanding of the origins… and how the Covid-19 pandemic began.
“Governments, leaders, public health officials and scientists involved in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and preventing future pandemics must commit to greater transparency, involvement and accountability in their efforts.”
Last month, Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, Covid said “most likely” leaked from the Wuhan lab.
Mr Wray said: “The FBI has long determined that the origin of the pandemic is most likely a possible laboratory incident in Wuhan.”
The U.S. Department of Energy has also concluded that a laboratory leak was the most likely cause, albeit with “little confidence”.
The energy department oversees a network of 17 U.S. laboratories that conduct research in advanced biology.
Meanwhile, the CIA reportedly remains undecided between the lab leak and the natural transmission theories.
Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, said last month that there was no “final answer” yet.
He said: “Some elements of the intelligence community have jumped to conclusions on the one hand, others on the other, and some have said they just don’t have enough information to be sure.”
