Covid-19 created in Wuhan lab, has no ‘credible natural ancestor’, says new study

Amid calls for a fresh probe into the origins of Covid-19, an explosive new study has found that Chinese scientists created the virus in a lab in Wuhan, then tried to cover their tracks by reverse-engineering versions of the virus to make it look like it evolved naturally from bats.

Covid-19 has no “credible natural ancestor” and was created by Chinese scientists who were working on a ‘Gain of Function’ project in a Wuhan lab, the Daily Mail reported on Sunday, citing a new research paper by British professor Angus Dalgleish and Norwegian scientist Dr Birger Sorensen. The new research claims that scientists took a natural coronavirus “backbone” found in Chinese cave bats and spliced onto it a new “spike”, turning it into the deadly and highly transmissible Covid-19.

The paper also quotes that researchers found “unique fingerprints” in Covid-19 samples that they say could only have arisen from manipulation in a laboratory. Authors Dalgleish and Sorensen wrote in their paper that they had prima facie evidence of retro-engineering in China for a year, but were ignored by academics and major journals, reported DailyMail.com.

The study alleged “deliberate destruction, concealment or contamination of data” at Chinese labs and notes the silencing and disappearance of scientists in China who spoke out about the activities.

Dalgleish is a professor of oncology at St George’s University, London, and is best known for his breakthrough creating the first working ‘HIV vaccine’, to treat diagnosed patients and allow them to go off medication for months. Sørensen, a virologist, is chair of pharmaceutical company, Immunor, which developed a coronavirus vaccine candidate called Biovacc-19. Dalgleish also has share options in the firm.

Their study is expected to intensify the ongoing debate on China’s role in creating the virus that has claimed thousands of lives.

These developments come in the backdrop of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual assembly in Geneva demanding access for independent experts to “complete, original data and samples” relevant to the source of the virus and early stages of the outbreak in China.

There have been growing demands by various countries to investigate whether the virus originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan from an animal source or from a laboratory. The United States has last week asked American intelligence agencies to find out how Covid-19 emerged in China. India too on Friday supported renewed global calls for a comprehensive investigation by the WHO into the origins of the virus. “The WHO convened global study on the origin of COVID-19 is an important first step. It stressed the need for next phase studies as also for further data and studies to reach robust conclusions,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Friday.