The New York Times relaunches the hypothesis that the Sars-Cov-2 virus was created in the laboratory. The one in Wuhan, China. “If that were the case, it would be the most costly accident in the history of science,” writes molecular biologist Alina Chan from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard, in an editorial in the NYT. «The virus that caused the Covid-19 pandemic emerged in Wuhan, the city where the most important laboratory in the world for Sars-type viruses is located», explains Chan. According to which «the year before the pandemic the Wuhan institute, working with EcoHealth Alliance (an American scientific organization that was financed with 80 million dollars by the US government) and the epidemiologist from the University of North Carolina Ralph Baric, had proposed the creation of viruses with the distinctive characteristics of Sars-CoV-2.”
The role of the USA
This proposal, in fact, reported a plan to “create viruses surprisingly similar” to Covid, Chan points out. Highlighting that the “American partners probably knew only a fraction of the research carried out in Wuhan. According to sources of intelligence Americans, some of the institute’s research was classified or conducted with or for the Chinese military.” Furthermore, according to the molecular biologist, the safety levels of the Wuhan laboratory were very low. «He carried out the work in conditions of low biosafety which could not have contained a virus present in the air as contagious as Sars-CoV-2», observes Chan again, noting how «the hypothesis that Covid-19 comes from an animal of the Wuhan seafood market is not supported by strong evidence.” There is still a lack of “the clear evidence that would be expected if the virus had emerged from the wildlife trade”, concludes Chan, asking the US to investigate thoroughly.
Fauci’s hearing in the House
Yesterday, Tuesday 4 June, the immunologist Anthony Fauci was heard – in a hearing in the House – accused by Republicans of having attempted to hide the origins of the Covid 19 pandemic. «The accusation that I have tried to cover the hypothesis that the virus could have arisen from a mutation created in the laboratory. The opposite is true: in an email sent on February 12, 2020 I asked to clarify and report to the relevant authorities”, Fauci told the Chamber. A GOP-led subcommittee spent more than a year investigating the nation’s response to the pandemic. And whether US-funded research in China may have played some role in its inception. Yet, he found no evidence linking Fauci to wrongdoing. This would exclude that – as the New York Times – there may be responsibilities of other American research institutions.
