Chinese lab issued safety alerts before the first Covid case

‘Biosecurity breach’

CODED messages about a ‘grave situation’ were sent from the Chinese laboratory suspected of causing the Covid pandemic, it has emerged.

Evidence seen by a US Senate Committee suggests the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) sent updates warning of a safety emergency weeks before the first official case of Covid-19 in China.

Experts working on an interim report published last week found cryptic references to ‘hidden safety dangers’ and ‘severe consequences’ in dozens of dispatches between the lab and Chinese officials.

The details have come to light following the report’s publication, which concluded the Covid19 pandemic was ‘more likely than not’ the result of a laboratory accident.

It suggests serious safety concerns were known at the top of the Beijing government, with documents describing how a senior official visited the lab bearing ‘important oral remarks and written instructions’ from Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The revelations add to a growing body of evidence that disputes the official theory from the World Health Organisation that the virus jumped from animals into humans in a ‘spillover event’.

Researcher Toy Reid, who claims to be an expert in ‘official speak’ used by Chinese elites, spent months studying exchanges between the state-funded lab and the Chinese Communist Party for the Senate report.

He says one exchange in November 2019 appeared to refer to a biosecurity breach, according to documents seen by US magazine Vanity Fair and the investigative website ProPublica.

Experts believe this prompted a technology and safety official to visit one of the labs under the guise of a safety-training seminar.