Glimpse of lab but no new info

A CONTROVERSIAL campaign rally held by President Donald Trump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last month likely contributed to a rise in the number of Covid cases there, said Dr Bruce Dart, health director for the city and county.

Beijing, July 9: Chinese state media has offered a rare glimpse of the lab at the heart of Covid-19 conspiracy theories, as it seeks to push back against claims the facility was the source of the global pandemic. President Donald Trump and other US figures have repeatedly suggested the virus could have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, or even been deliberately produced there.

Footage broadcast by state-run CCTV is believed to be the first from within the institute’s P4 lab — for highly-dangerous Class 4 pathogens — since its inauguration in 2017. However, it offered no new information on the lab’s workings. It included only a few brief shots of actual laboratory areas, taken through thick glass windows.

The report said safety protocols prevented closer access. The piece focussed instead on rebutting leak suspicions. “There have been no accidents of pathogen leaks or human infections” from the lab, said Yuan Zhiming, director of the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory. “An outbreak and pandemic caused by any infectious disease is bound to be the focus of public attention.”

“Because of the fear and feeling of helplessness and also the lack of information, many people would naturally link an area’s outbreak to its nearest lab. As they learn more about the situation and the lab, rumours will gradually dissipate.”

Scientists think Covid19 — which first emerged in Wuhan and has gone on to kill more than half a million people worldwide — originated in bats and could have been transmitted to people via another mammal.