Leaked State Department cables add weight to the theory that COVID-19 started in a Wuhan virology lab

The Blaze ^ | April 15, 2020 | Phil Silver

[Twotone]

In 2018 — nearly two years before the start of the global coronavirus pandemic — U.S. officials in China sent warnings to Washington expressing safety concerns over a Wuhan facility's research into coronaviruses in horseshoe bats, adding weight to the theory that the novel virus originated in a lab and not at a Wuhan wet market.

The news broke in a report Wednesday by Josh Rogin of the Washington Post, who said that he obtained access to the first of two diplomatic cables sent from State Department officials who had visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology in January and March 2018.

According to Rogin, in January 2018, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing sent American science diplomats to the Wuhan lab, which had in 2017 become the first lab in China to achieve BSL-4 clearance, or the highest level of bioresearch safety. That clearance — granted by a Chinese accrediting agency — allowed researchers at the lab to study the world's most dangerous pathogens.

Evidently, what the U.S. officials discovered during their visits concerned them so much that they proceeded to send two Sensitive But Unclassified cables back to Washington. In the first cable, according to Rogin, the officials warned that inadequate safety measures and risky research could result in a new SARS-like pandemic.

"During interactions with scientists at the WIV laboratory, they noted the new lab has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators to safely operate this high-containment laboratory," states the Jan. 19, 2018 cable.

"Most importantly...the researchers also showed that various SARS-like coronaviruses can interact with ACE2, the human receptor identified for SARS-coronavirus. This finding strongly suggests that SARS-like coronaviruses from bats can be transmitted to humans to cause SARS-like diseases. "

[trebb]

I pass....

[ZinGirl]

Good Lord that’s a disgusting creature. If I had to Indiana Jones my way to something, it sure as hell wouldn’t be THAT.