On a hill in Wuhan, the Epidemiology Laboratory, set up with help from France, is the site of American suspicions over the source of the emerging Corona Virus (Covid-19) epidemic that has emerged in this big city in central China.
According to most scientists, the emerging corona virus is most likely transmitted to humans from an animal, and all information indicates a market in the city where wild animals were being sold alive.
But the presence of the Institute of Epidemiology just meters away from that place raises months of suspicions of the virus leaking from these sensitive facilities, and after several press articles were issued, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke this week of an "investigation" to study this hypothesis, which is not yet based on any Concrete matter.
The following are the most important questions about the Epidemiological Institute in Wuhan:
What is the laboratory site?
According to the Washington Post, the US embassy in Beijing, after several visits to the institute, in 2018 alerted US authorities to inadequate safety measures, apparently in a laboratory conducting studies on the corona virus caused by bats.
The US "Fox News" network quoted "several sources" whose identity did not reveal that the current Corona virus, which last December announced its first appearance in Wuhan itself, comes from this particular laboratory, and if it is a natural virus not installed by the Chinese, it may be "Leak" involuntarily, but as a result of improper preventive measures.
The laboratory is a highly protected facility with the most dangerous strains of known viruses such as Ebola. It is a B-4 level 4 biological safety laboratory, and this highly sensitive site was created with the help of France, and enables very accurate research aimed at rapid response in the event of infectious diseases.
The laboratory cost about 40 million euros and was funded by China. Researchers work in total isolation, and there are at least 30 B-4 laboratories in the world, half of which are in the United States.
On the other hand, the Institute of Epidemiology in Wuhan has the largest group of virus strains in Asia with 1500 different samples according to its website, and although the American press constantly talks about P-4, less serious studies such as those related to the emerging corona virus are usually conducted in laboratories. B-3 is a laboratory type also owned by the Institute.
The institute refused to answer questions from Agence France-Presse. Hence, it is not possible for France Press to officially confirm that Corona viruses were studied before the outbreak of the epidemic in these laboratories.
Is the laboratory the source of the emerging corona virus?
- Nothing allows you to confirm this.
The Washington Post and Fox News quoted information from unidentified sources who expressed concern about the possibility of an accidental leak of the virus.
According to the TV network, the "first patient" who was behind the spread of the epidemic may have been an employee of the institute who was infected and subsequently transferred to other places in Wuhan.
In response to a question about this hypothesis, US President Donald Trump announced that he is "increasingly hearing this account," adding that it is currently "a very in-depth lesson" developed by Washington.
Mike Pompeo said in a Friday interview that when the epidemic began to spread in China, "local authorities asked whether the Institute of Epidemiology was its source."
He added: "We know that they did not allow scientists from all over the world to go to this laboratory in order to know what happened there."
Several theories have been circulated in the past months on the Internet pointing fingers at this laboratory, and the institute published a statement last February denying these first rumors, and also announced that, as of December 30, he had received samples of the virus, which was unknown and was spreading in Wuhan.
On Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Legian rejected the US accusations targeting the institute.
What do scientists say?
Many researchers believe that the emerging corona virus is undoubtedly the source of bats. But they believe that it was transferred via another medium before it reached the human.
Chinese scientists have confirmed that this intermediate animal is the scaly anteater, a small mammal that is threatened with extinction because it is exploited because of its skin scales.
In contrast, studies by other Chinese researchers have been published in well-known scientific journals that the first patient with the emerging coronavirus did not visit the Wuhan wild animal market.
"The source of the epidemic is still an outstanding question," Philippa Linzos, a biosafety researcher at Kings College in London, told AFP.
She added that nothing suggests the hypothesis of the virus leaking from a laboratory "and there is no real evidence" that the newly created Corona virus came from the Wuhan wild animal market.