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WHO team probing COVID-19 visits Wuhan lab, meets 'Bat Woman'


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WHO team probing COVID-19 visits Wuhan lab, meets 'Bat Woman'

By Martin Quin Pollard and Thomas Peter

 

2021-02-03T024323Z_1_LYNXMPEH12053_RTROPTP_4_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-WHO-CHINA.JPG

Peter Daszak and Thea Fischer, members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), sit in a car arriving at Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, Hubei province, China February 3, 2021. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

 

WUHAN, China (Reuters) - A team of investigators led by the World Health Organization visited a virus research laboratory in China's central city of Wuhan and met with a prominent virologist there in its search for clues to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The experts spent about 3-1/2 hours at the heavily-guarded Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has been at the centre of some conspiracy theories that claim a laboratory leak caused the city's first coronavirus outbreak at the end of 2019.

 

"Extremely important meeting today with staff at WIV including Dr Shi Zhengli. Frank, open discussion. Key questions asked & answered," team member Peter Daszak said on Twitter.

 

Shi, a well-known virus hunter who has long focused on bat coronaviruses - earning her the nickname "Bat Woman" - was among the first last year to isolate the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

 

Most scientists, including Shi, reject the hypothesis of a lab leak. However, some experts speculate that a virus captured from the wild could have figured in lab experiments to test the risks of a human spillover and then escaped via an infected staff member.

 

"Very interesting. Many questions," Thea Fischer, a Danish member of the team, called from her car as it sped away from the lab following Wednesday's visit, in response to a question whether the team had found anything.

 

Some scientists have called for China to release details of all coronavirus samples studied at the lab, to see which most closely resembles SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the respiratory disease.

 

The WHO, which has sought to manage expectations for the Wuhan mission, has said its members would be limited to visits organised by their Chinese hosts and have no contact with community members, because of health restrictions.

 

While the novel coronavirus that sparked the pandemic was first identified in Wuhan, Beijing has sought to cast doubt on the notion that it originated in China, pointing to imported frozen food as a possible conduit.

 

The team will spend two weeks conducting field work after having completed two weeks in hotel quarantine after arrival in Wuhan.

 

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-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-03
 
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14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Beijing has sought to cast doubt on the notion that it originated in China, pointing to imported frozen food as a possible conduit

 

BB - Beijing Bullsh-t. Looks like the Chinese Communist Bullsh-t Bureau is working overtime.

 

Seeing as we can't trust the Chinese to be honest, what is the point of this highly restrictive, and rehearsed 'tour' of Wuhan? They're not allowed to go anywhere their Chinese minders haven't approved. They can't talk to members of the public, nor anyone who hasn't been pre-approved and who's lines haven't been written for them by the CCP.

 

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5 hours ago, Russell17au said:

Very interesting comments about this American run lab in Wuhan where Dr Peter Daszack an Englishman was the lab manager and he worked for a company called Ecohealth Alliances Inc whose offices are located in New York. Batwoman was employed at that lab and it has operated since 2014 to do research after the MERS and SARS viruses. This lab was funded by America since the Obama Administration in 2014. The research was not only done in China but it was also done in Australia and France. Here is the website of American National Institute of Health showing in its projects about this lab and the people who worked in it and the work that was carried out. 

Project Information - NIH RePORTER - NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools Expenditures and Results

https://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_results.cfm?aid=8674931&icde=49588715

The following is the most thorough investigation and analysis of evidence of the escape theory that I've encountered:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/coronavirus-lab-escape-theory.html

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7 hours ago, Russell17au said:

Very interesting comments about this American run lab in Wuhan where Dr Peter Daszack an Englishman was the lab manager and he worked for a company called Ecohealth Alliances Inc whose offices are located in New York. Batwoman was employed at that lab and it has operated since 2014 to do research after the MERS and SARS viruses. This lab was funded by America since the Obama Administration in 2014. The research was not only done in China but it was also done in Australia and France. Here is the website of American National Institute of Health showing in its projects about this lab and the people who worked in it and the work that was carried out. 

Project Information - NIH RePORTER - NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools Expenditures and Results

https://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_results.cfm?aid=8674931&icde=49588715

Your post isn't correct.

 

1) Daszack was never the lab manager. He works (present tense - He is the president of EcoHealth Alliances) for a non-profit that provides funding to different projects. He is also on the ground now as a member of the W.H.O team in China. He has NEVER worked at the W.I.V (Wuhan Institute of Virology)

 

2) The lab has operated since 1956 and has been working on MERS/SARS since 2003

 

3) Funding came from Eco Health alliances - a global non profit. This non-profit received funds from the government and the non-profit provided funding.

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5 hours ago, 2530Ubon said:

Your post isn't correct.

 

1) Daszack was never the lab manager. He works (present tense - He is the president of EcoHealth Alliances) for a non-profit that provides funding to different projects. He is also on the ground now as a member of the W.H.O team in China. He has NEVER worked at the W.I.V (Wuhan Institute of Virology)

 

2) The lab has operated since 1956 and has been working on MERS/SARS since 2003

 

3) Funding came from Eco Health alliances - a global non profit. This non-profit received funds from the government and the non-profit provided funding.

I would suggest that you, everybody, read the following.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/coronavirus-lab-escape-theory.html

Then we can have an informed discussion. Daszak was the conduit for funds from NIH, but he also got them a crucial technology from the US.  

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6 hours ago, placnx said:

I would suggest that you, everybody, read the following.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/coronavirus-lab-escape-theory.html

Then we can have an informed discussion. Daszak was the conduit for funds from NIH, but he also got them a crucial technology from the US.  

Yes, His ORGANISATION - a non profit sent funds to the lab. He never worked there and was never lab manager. He didn't give them technology either. Spread your conspiracy theories elsewhere please. They're not welcome here.

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8 hours ago, 2530Ubon said:

Yes, His ORGANISATION - a non profit sent funds to the lab. He never worked there and was never lab manager. He didn't give them technology either. Spread your conspiracy theories elsewhere please. They're not welcome here.

I suggest that you read the link which I provided above which reveals in detail what that transferred technology does, which strongly suggests that various articles such as the one in Nature Medicine denying a lab origin/creation should be discounted. This is the article in question:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9

Lab origin is not a conspiracy theory. It is an hypothesis.

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