Yuan Zhiming, director of the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and researcher of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, responded to reporters' questions at a press conference of the State Information Office on the 22nd, saying that the new coronavirus is of natural origin, and this has become a general consensus in the academic community.
Regarding the media's concern about the safety of Wuhan P4 laboratory, Yuan Zhiming responded that as a laboratory with the highest level of biosafety and protection, Wuhan P4 laboratory has not had any pathogen leakage or personal infection since it was officially put into operation in 2018. accident.
Wuhan P4 laboratory is designed, constructed and operated in accordance with international requirements and national standards. It not only has stable and reliable biosafety protection facilities, but also established a complete biosafety management system and a team of professional support, management and maintenance personnel. Team.
I can say with certainty that the hardware facilities, management level, staff and working methods of the Wuhan P4 laboratory are the same as other P4 laboratories currently operating in the world.
Some media have reported that “all three researchers of Wuhan Virus Research visited the hospital in November 2019, and their symptoms were the same as those of the new coronavirus.” This is completely out of nothing.
Yuan Zhiming also emphasized three points:
1. Before December 30, 2019, Wuhan Institute of Virology had not been exposed to, stored or studied the new coronavirus.
2. The Wuhan Virus Research Institute has never designed, manufactured or leaked the new coronavirus.
3. So far, the staff and graduate students of Wuhan Institute of Virology have maintained "zero infection" of the new crown virus.
(Headquarters CCTV reporter Jin Danni Chen Lei)