Fauci again asked China to share information to determine if the coronavirus appeared in a lab

The White House medical adviser, Antoine Fauci, urged China to share medical records of nine people who suffered from coronavirus-like illness before pandemic began, and said they could help to determine if the virus may have emerged from a laboratory.

The theory of laboratory leaks has gained momentum in recent weeks following reports that six minors fell ill in 2012 and three researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized in November 2019 with symptoms compatible with COVID-19 -although also with those of a “seasonal infection” -, after visiting a cave with bats in China’s Yunnan Province.

In an interview published Thursday in the Financial Time, Fauci said that These medical records could answer crucial questions about the origins of COVID-19 in Wuhan, where the pandemic started which it has killed more than 3.6 million people around the world.

“I would like to see the medical files of the three people who would have fallen ill in 2019”, said the immunologist. “Did they really get sick and, if so, what did they get sick of? “, big.

Fauci said he is “quite conceivable that the origin of COVID-19 is in this cave“That the team of experts went, and that”has started to spread naturally or has passed through the lab”.

In May, he said that although many experts believed it was “more likely” that the virus was “a natural occurrence”, they were not “100% certain”.

China, which is fiercely trying to rule out the laboratory’s hypothesis, He accused Washington of disseminating “conspiracy theories” and denied the information about the hospitalization of investigators in Wuhan published by the American media.

The natural origin thesis, considered most likely by a joint study by experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Chinese who visited Wuhan earlier this year, argues that the virus first appeared in bats before being transmitted to humans, possibly via another animal.

However, The scientific community agrees that the virus was not created on purpose, but it is possible that a leak of a coronavirus that was in a laboratory in China has occurred.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Friday relied on the team’s findings to dismiss Fauci’s remarks, citing unsubstantiated claims that the virus first appeared in the US military lab at Fort Detrick.

Asked about the possibility of Beijing sharing medical records, ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, refers to a statement from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in March. “We hope that people who do not believe in conspiracy theories, who respect the facts and the truth can find factual answers in this statement “Wang said.

Last week the president Joe Biden asked US intelligence to prepare report within 90 days of the origin of COVID-19.

It also instructed various national laboratories to assist the agencies in the investigation. “The United States will also continue to work with like-minded partners around the world to pressure China to engage in a full, transparent, and evidence-based international investigation and access. all relevant data and evidence.“, He said.

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