Wuhan:
A group of investigators led by the World Health Organization visited a virus study 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 professionals 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 triggered the city’s very first coronavirus outbreak at the finish of 2019.
“Extremely important meeting today with staff at WIV including Dr Shi Zhengli. Frank, open discussion. Key questions asked & answered,” group member Peter Daszak mentioned on Twitter.
Shi, a nicely-identified virus hunter who has lengthy focused on bat coronaviruses – earning her the nickname “Bat Woman” – was amongst the very first final year to isolate the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
Most scientists, such as Shi, reject the hypothesis of a lab leak. However, some professionals speculate that a virus captured from the wild could have figured in lab experiments to test the dangers of a human spillover and then escaped through an infected employees member.
“Very interesting. Many questions,” Thea Fischer, a Danish member of the group, known as from her vehicle as it sped away from the lab following Wednesday’s take a look at, in response to a query irrespective of whether the group had identified something.
Some scientists have known as for China to release facts of all coronavirus samples studied at the lab, to see which most closely resembles SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the respiratory illness.
The WHO, which has sought to handle expectations for the Wuhan mission, has mentioned its members would be restricted to visits organised by their Chinese hosts and have no make contact with with neighborhood members, simply because of wellness restrictions.
While the novel coronavirus that sparked the pandemic was very first identified in Wuhan, Beijing has sought to cast doubt on the notion that it originated in China, pointing to imported frozen meals as a feasible conduit.
The group will invest two weeks conducting field work immediately after obtaining completed two weeks in hotel quarantine immediately after arrival in Wuhan.