Ever since the coronavirus pandemic has started, the search of its origin has also begun. One popular conspiracy theory is that this virus was leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, mainly from the P4 laboratory.
The director of Wuhan Labs in China has thoroughly rejected these allegations calling it an “impossible” thing. Previously, China was under high criticism for handling the coronavirus pandemic. The US has accused China of hiding the actual number of infected people and deaths caused by the deadly virus.
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All this has made China come under extreme pressure on whether or not this virus was “made” in the virology laboratory using a high-security biosafety protocol and leaked from there. However, in response to the origin of coronavirus, Chinese scientists have confirmed that there are high chances that this virus is transmitted from animals to humans as it emerged from a seafood market of Wuhan.
But still, there are many people who strongly believe that it is not natural but a “man-made” virus. And most likely, it is leaked from the P4 lab of Wuhan Institute of Virology. This laboratory is well equipped to deal with the deadly viruses, so it just increases the probability that this conspiracy theory might be true.
The director of the Wuhan laboratory, Yuan Zhiming has said in a media interview that there is no possibility that this virus is leaked from the lab. Considering, none of the virology lab’s staff is infected, this is nothing but a plotted theory. He also said that not just the P4 lab but the whole institute is capable of handling viral research but different aspects of the virus.
Earlier this year, in February, the Institute has already cleared this allegation by dismissing the theory. It also told that the institute has given the World Health Organization (WHO) all basic details on the virus, a month before (in January).
After a few months, this April, the US government has started the rumors again that China is responsible for causing this deadly pandemic. The Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the media that US officials are conducting a “full investigation” on this virus especially about its origin and spread.
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On the other side, Yuan Zhiming, the director of Wuhan Virology labs is constantly declining this claim, saying it is not even possible. He said that everyone who works on viral cultures knows that which type of research is being held in these labs and how does the institute handles all these viral samples.
He also said that just because this P4 lab is in Wuhan, where the virus emerged, people are making connections to justify the pandemic. In fact, some of the media houses are also involved as they are trying to manipulated and mislead everyone, deliberately, he said.
Two leading media groups, Washington Post and Fox News have added comments from some anonymous sources which said that probably this virus was accidentally leaked from the research lab.
On these reports, Yuan said that they are completely based on assumptions and there is no evidence to prove these claims.
As the coronavirus pandemic started, the Wuhan authorities initially tried to cover it up, leaving many people highly suspicious. Later on, the questions on official statistics on coronavirus patients were repeatedly changed which make it even more questionable. Now, the authorities have accepted their mistakes and systemic flaws while reporting the deaths and changing the reported number 50% higher.
