WHO team in Wuhan does not rule out coronavirus could have escaped from laboratory – World News

A team of global experts probing the origins of Covid-19 in Wuhan have not ruled out the possibility that it escaped from a lab.

Investigators working on behalf of the World Health Organisation wrapped up a visit to a major virus research laboratory in the Chinese city which was ground zero for the coronavirus outbreak a year ago.

The team spent almost four hours at the heavily-guarded Wuhan Institute of Virology in their quest to find out how the first human became infected with the disease which has now killed 2.2 million people worldwide.

British scientist Dr Peter Daszak, who is part of the investigation, said on Wednesday the team is receiving data “which no one has seen before” and are “really getting somewhere”.

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China has been accused of covering up the outbreak and silencing medics who tried to raise the alarm, and waiting too long to inform the rest of the world.

It has also been accused of stonewalling the outside investigation into the origins of the virus which rapidly spread as infected people jetted around the world.

Experts were previously blocked from entering China, their investigation began more than 12 months after the outbreak started and the mission is being tightly controlled by the authorities.

The WHO team is being kept in isolation as part of Covid-19 prevention measures.

Dr Daszak told Sky News he was optimistic about finding the origins of the disease, but he warned that the new, more infectious variants of the virus meant the world would be living with the virus forever.

The Wuhan lab has denied claims that a leak there caused the outbreak towards the end of 2019.

In his first interview since arriving in China, Dr Daszak that the possibility has not been ruled out.

Speaking before the visit to the lab, he added: “We’re all aware of the hypotheses around the potential involvement of the lab in this and we’re certainly going to ask questions about all of the key aspects of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

“If there are data that point towards any hypothesis, we’ll follow the data, we’ll follow the evidence where it leads us. If it leads us to a seafood market and a cold chain, we’ll follow it there.

“If it leads us to a wildlife farm or a wildlife market we’ll go there. If it leads us to a lab we’ll go there. Everything’s on the table and we’re keeping an open mind.”

Most scientists have dismissed the lab theory, but some have speculated that a virus captured from the wild could have figured in lab experiments to test the risks of a human spillover and then escaped via an infected staff member.

Calling out from her car as it sped away from the lab following Wednesday’s visit, Thea Fischer, a Danish member of the team, said: “Very interesting. Many questions.”

She was responding to a question whether the team had found anything.

Some scientists have called for China to release details of all coronavirus samples studied at the lab, to see which most closely resembles SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the respiratory disease.

Dr Daszak, told Reuters from his car as it arrived at the lab: “I am looking forward to a very productive day, meeting the key people here and asking all the important questions that need to be asked.”

Before the visit, Dr Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, a non-governmental organisation, told Sky News that the WHO team was getting “very valuable” information from visits to places such as the Hunan seafood market, where the first cluster of cases was detected.

Investigators spend time touring the market and speaking to managers, vendors and those who collected samples from the floor that later tested positive for the new strain of coronavirus.

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That information was helping the experts to look at the “right directions” for Covid-19, he added.

China has said its own scientists have been investigating the origins of the virus.

Dr Daszak insists the Chinese scientists are sharing data that hasn’t been seen before and they are being open about every possible scenario.

He has dismissed accusations that his long working relationship with the Wuhan lab and Shi Zhengli, the researcher who identified the new coronavirus, would affect his impartiality.

He also defended the WHO team’s visit to a propaganda museum highlighting Wuhan’s fight against Covid-19, saying the experts were able to see it through it all.

The WHO, which has sought to manage expectations for the mission, has said its members would be limited to visits organised by their Chinese hosts and have no contact with community members, because of health curbs.

While the novel coronavirus that sparked the pandemic wasfirst identified in Wuhan, Beijing has sought to cast doubt on the notion that it originated in China, pointing to imported frozen food as a conduit.

The team will spend two weeks in field work after having completed two weeks in hotel quarantine after arrival in Wuhan.