Bombshell Senate report concludes that COVID 'most likely' leaked from lab - as lawmakers point the finger at Beijing | MailOnline - Connor Boyd:
October 27, 2022 - "The Covid pandemic was most likely the result of a lab leak, according to a bombshell Senate report. Policymakers said there was 'substantial' evidence of an accident at a research facility — while evidence for a natural spillover is 'still missing'. The interim report concluded that China 's unwillingness to cooperate or open up the lab in question meant it 'no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt'.
"GOP members of the Senate Committee on Health Education, Labor and Pensions reviewed hundreds of studies into the origins of Covid and interviewed 'several dozen' experts over the past 15 months. Writing in the report, they conclude: 'Based on the analysis of the publicly available information, it appears reasonable to conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident'.... But 'the lack of transparency and collaboration' from China 'prevents reaching a more definitive conclusion', the senate committee adds....
"[T]he report found there had been at least six research-related incidents involving Covid at biosecurity labs in China, Taiwan and Singapore. It also cites claims the 1977 H1N1 flu outbreak was the result of a research-related incident, which remains a theory but has the backing of many scientists. "The committee writes: 'In short, human errors, mechanical failure, animal bites, animal escapes, inadequate training, insufficient funding, and pressure for results can lead to an escape of virulent pathogens, which could, in turn, infect animals and humans and lead to a release of a virus from a lab.'
"Questions about the Wuhan Institute of Virology located just eight miles away from the wet market where early cases were clustered - remain unanswered. Chinese officials were found to have wiped crucial databases from the lab and stifled independent investigations into the facility. Researchers who fell ill with a mysterious flu-like virus months before the official Covid timeline were silenced or disappeared.
"The WIV specialized in dangerous viruses and one of its chief scientists was nicknamed the 'Bat Lady' for her extensive work on coronaviruses like Covid. It received funding from the [U.S.] federal Government to conduct gain-of-function research, which involves tinkering with viruses to make them more infectious or deadly to get ahead of future outbreaks. WIV researchers actively sampled bats in Southern China and mainland Southeast Asia where the SARS-related coronaviruses most similar to SARS-CoV-2 have been collected and identified. Viruses collected from these regions are up to 97 per cent similar overall to the Covid virus that spread around the world.
"The Senate report found staff at the WIV wore 'inadequate levels of personal protective equipment while handling bats' after analyzing film and photo footage years before the pandemic.... The lawmakers behind the report detailed evidence of biosafety and mismanagement concerns at the high security biocontainment labs, which had an expansive collection of coronaviruses including more than 1,400 samples of bat viruses from the wild....Efforts by the WIV to bolster their biosafety protocols were repeatedly stymied by what officials called the 'stranglehold problem,' which meant a lack of access to advanced foreign biosafety technologies and materials....
"The committee also enumerated the unique qualities of the coronavirus and the way it spread early on in the pandemic that suggests the pathogen was not a product of natural spillover. 'A research-related incident is consistent with the early epidemiology showing rapid spread of the virus in Wuhan, with the earliest calls for assistance being located ... near the WIV’s original campus in central Wuhan,' the report said....
"Scientists who support the theory that the coronavirus jumped from animals to humans argue that an intermediate host was probably necessary to increase the virus’ chances of being able to infect and replicate in humans so effectively. But scientists have yet to identify that intermediate host, which authors of the report said pokes a hole in the zoonotic spillover theory. The senators concluded, 'Advocates of a zoonotic origin theory must provide evidence ... as was demonstrated for the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak. There needs to be verifiable evidence that a natural zoonotic spillover actually occurred, not simply that such a spillover could have occurred.'"
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