The possibility that coronavirus escaped from a Wuhan laboratory is ‘no longer being discounted’ after evidence revealed that scientists had been carrying out experiments on infected cave bats. A report has shown that the Wuhan Institute of Virology studied bats captured from caves in Yunnan, which is thought to be where the animals at the source of the outbreak originated, reported the Mail on Sunday. The caves are about 1,000 miles from Wuhan – where the virus was first reported in a live animal market. However, the new evidence has now thrown the original theory into question. Although the UK Government maintains that ‘the balance of scientific advice’ still suggests the virus first made the jump to humans from the market, the possibility of a lab leak can no longer be completely ruled out.
The findings of a five-year study were published in a research paper titled ‘Discovery of a rich gene pool of bat SARS-related coronaviruses provides new insights into the origin of SARS coronavirus’. According to the research, scientists have discovered large numbers of SARS-related coronaviruses in horseshoe bats in different areas of China since 2005. However, those specifically in the Yunnan caves had 11 different, new sequences of coronavirus. The lab’s experiments are part of a project to examine the source of coronaviruses following outbreaks of diseases such as SARS. So far, it has received about $3.7 million (about £2,972,600) in grants from the US National Institutes of Health. However, the Chinese Embassy has been quick to downplay speculation about the lab’s activities and called the allegations ‘hasty and reckless’.
In a letter also published in the Mail on Sunday, it said: ‘Hasty and reckless allegations, such as naming China as the origin in an attempt to shift the blame before any scientific conclusion, is irresponsible and will definitely do harm to international co-operation at this critical time. ‘In his telephone conversation with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out that ‘alarmingly, some people are attempting to politicise the epidemic, label the virus and stigmatise China’. He added: ‘Raab expressed the UK’s firm opposition to politicising the Covid-19 outbreak and fully agrees with China that the source of the virus is a scientific issue that requires professional and science-based assessment.’