Republican report says COVID-19 leaked from Chinese lab
pharmafile | August 2, 2021 | News story | Sales and Marketing |
A report released by the US Republican party on Monday has concluded that the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic was leaked from a Chinese research facility.
The report cited “ample evidence” that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), aided by US experts and funding, were working on modifying coronaviruses to infect humans, and goes on to state that such manipulation could be hidden.
Mike McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the report by the panel’s Republican staff urging a bipartisan investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
China has denied all allegations of genetically modified viruses being leaked from the Wuhan facility, the city where the first cases of COVID-19 were detected.
Other experts suspect that the pandemic was caused by an animal virus being transmitted to humans at a seafood market neat the WIV.
The Republican report said: “We now believe it’s time to completely dismiss the wet market as the source.
“We also believe the preponderance of the evidence proves the virus did leak from the WIV and that it did so sometime before September 12, 2019.”
The report also cited “new evidence” about safety protocols at the lab, including a request from July 2019 for a $1.5 million overhaul of a hazardous waste treatment system for the WIV.
However, in April the US’ top intelligence agency concluded that the virus was not man-made or genetically altered.
In May Joe Biden, US President, ordered an escalation of the investigation into the origins of the pandemic and to report back in 90 days.
So far, there has been no conclusion from the US intelligence sources on the real origin of the virus.
Kat Jenkins
