China, Wuhan Institute tried to cover up COVID-19: Evidence confirms it

Emails exchanged between the Wuhan Institute of Virology, designated as one of the sites where the coronavirus could come from, and the government of President Xi Jinping, would prove that they hampered the delivery of SARS-CoV-2 samples to US scientists, causing critical delays in the onset of the disease and which, if avoided, would have been critical in preventing the global spread virus.

This is a series of emails exchanged between scientists at the Galveston National Laboratory in Texas and the scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology they had helped train. According to the newspaper, the US lab waited for days while a Wuhan scientist overseeing the transfer of the virus reported little progress in a process that appeared to be hampered by the need to get approval from the Chinese regime.

Experts with knowledge of the documents said the delay was a serious waste of time in the early stages of the pandemic and demonstrated China’s reluctance to share the material in the critical early days of the pandemic.

James Le Duc, then director of the Texas lab, warned his Chinese counterparts that delays in delivering the information could hurt China’s international standing and deprive scientists of equipment to conduct research.

“You are in a very difficult position and you are doing a great job. However, I recommend that you organize and quickly implement a way to share isolates of [virus] reference, ”wrote Le Duc in a January 22 email to Yuan Zhiming, director of the Wuhan laboratory.

“With cases occurring outside of China, others will soon have their own isolates and China will have lost the opportunity to lead … What if scientific publications by Chinese researchers start to appear without the world having independent access to it? a strain, it is likely that China is highly criticized, ”he added.

Another point that fueled suspicion was the timing of the sequencing of the virus. Chinese scientists shared the SARS-CoV-2 sequence, a text code with the genetic components, less than two weeks after Wuhan health officials sounded the alarm over a suspicious outbreak.

Chinese authorities shared the genome with the World Health Organization (WHO) ten days after the Wuhan Institute of Virology first sequenced it on January 2.

Early access to the pathogen is essential for diagnostic kits and drug and vaccine development.

According to the mails, scientists in Texas sent official documents requesting the shipment of a sample from Wuhan on January 28, but the days passed and it became bureaucratic paperwork that went through the Wuhan customs office. at the Beijing General Customs Administration and the General Office of the State Council.