[ad_1]
The previous letter “strongly condemned conspiracy theories” surrounding the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, suggesting that Covid-19 is not of natural origin. The statement gave a silencing effect to the wider debate.
After facing backlash for its coverage of the origins of the Covid pandemic, the highly acclaimed scientific journal published an “alternative view” of 16 scientists. An international team of health experts, in the open letter, called for “an objective, open and transparent scientific debate on the origin of SARS-CoV-2”.
Scientists “must assess all assumptions on a rational basis and weigh their probability on the basis of facts and evidence, without speculating on possible policy impacts,” the authors wrote.
In the new open letter, scientists discuss the possibility that laboratory research may have played a role in the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The 2021 letter stated, “We believe the strongest clue to new, credible, and peer-reviewed evidence in the scientific literature is that the virus has evolved in nature, while suggestions from a leak source laboratory findings of the pandemic remain without scientifically validated evidence that directly supports it in peer-reviewed scientific journals. ”
“No scientifically validated evidence”
The recent letter stated that there was no direct support for the natural origin of SARS-CoV-2, and that a lab-related accident is plausible. There is so far no scientifically validated evidence that directly supports a natural origin.
The fact that the causative agent of Covid-19 is descended from a natural virus is widely accepted, but that does not explain how it came to infect humans, he said, adding that “the evidence direct from a natural origin of SARS-CoV-2 has disappeared “.
“The origin linked to the research is plausible”
The Lancet’s 2021 report also said that some unusual features of the SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence suggest they could be the result of genetic engineering.
“Research-related contamination could result from contact with a natural virus during field sampling, transport from the field to a laboratory, characterization of bats and bat virus. mouse in the laboratory, or an unnatural virus modified in the laboratory. There are well-documented cases of pathogens escaping laboratories, “we read.
Scientists who rejected the theory of lab leaks linked to Wuhan lab: report
Media reports also ended up claiming that scientists who rejected the theory that Covid-19 leaked from the Chinese Institute of Virology in Wuhan had connections to the infamous laboratory.
One of the scientists, who signed a letter published in The Lancet on March 7 last year rejecting the theory of laboratory leaks, had ties to Chinese researchers, their colleagues or donors, reported The Telegraph.
Biden’s point of view: China withholding information
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden recently said China was withholding “critical information” about the origins of Covid-19 after the US intelligence community said it did not believe the virus was a biological weapon .
The United States, however, does not believe Chinese authorities had prior knowledge of the virus prior to the initial outbreak of the pandemic which has now claimed 4.5 million lives, according to the unclassified summary of a highly intelligence report. expected.
US President receives “inconclusive” report
A classified US intelligence report recently delivered to the White House was “inconclusive” on the origins of Covid-19, in part due to a lack of information from China, according to US media.
The assessment, ordered by President Biden, was unable to definitively conclude whether the virus that first appeared in central China had jumped on humans via animals or whether it was ‘had escaped from a highly secure research center in Wuhan, two US officials familiar with the matter told Washington. To post.
China and the United States and the virus
The 2021 report on The Lancet also implored China to open up and allow access to a proper investigation. While the first joint World Health Organization-China study concluded that the laboratory’s origin was “extremely unlikely,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said all hypotheses remained on the table, including including that of a laboratory leak.
China, meanwhile, resisted a second full and unrestricted WHO investigation into the origins of the epidemic, accusing the global health body of “arrogance” and “disrespect for the good. sense”.
Claims of US involvement have also been strong. More than 3,000 pages of emails from Fauci’s work during the pandemic between January and June 2020, obtained by The Washington Post, Buzzfeed News and CNN through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), raised the question whether he supported Chinese denials of the theory that Covid-19 leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan.
The question remains unanswered
Even after almost two years since Covid-19 was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the question of the origin of the virus still remains unanswered.
Numerous claims have been made by several scientists and governments around the world. Nor could the recent US intelligence report give a definitive conclusion as to whether the new coronavirus passed naturally to humans, or whether it was the result of a laboratory leak.
(With contributions from agencies)
[ad_2]
Source link
