Chinese virologist claims COVID-19 was made in govt-controlled Wuhan lab, offers scientific proof

The highly-contagious disease that has thrown the entire world out of gear is believed to be originated from a wet-food market in China’s Wuhan where it was first reported but there is no evidence of the same.

Key Highlights

• Several health experts are of the view that the virus is “man-made” in a laboratory in Wuhan

• Li-Meng allegedly fled Hong Kong earlier this year and is in hiding in the US over safety concerns

• Li-Meng claims to be one of the first scientists in the world to study the novel coronavirus

New Delhi: Even as it has been more than 10 months since the outbreak of coronavirus across the world, the cause of the viral infections is still a subject of speculation for medical experts and scientists.

The highly-contagious disease that has thrown the entire world out of gear is believed to be originated from a wet-food market in China’s Wuhan where it was first reported but there is no evidence of the same.

However, several health experts are of the view that the virus is “man-made” in a laboratory in Wuhan, located close to the sea-food market.

Making a similar claim, Chinese virologist and whistleblower Li-Meng Yan said that the novel coronavirus was made in a government-controlled laboratory in Wuhan and that she has scientific evidence to prove her claim.

'China knew about virus before publicly acknowledging it'

Li-Meng, who allegedly fled Hong Kong earlier this year and is in hiding in the US over safety concerns, alleged that China knew about the spread of the virus before publicly acknowledging it and that it was running a cover-up operation.

The top scientist, who specialised in virology and immunology at the Hong Kong School of Public Health, was working in Hong Kong.

Li-Meng who claims to be one of the first scientists in the world to study the novel coronavirus was given the task of looking into the odd cluster of SARS-like cases coming out of mainland China at the end of December 2019.

China denies speculations on virus origin

However, the Chinese government has been maintaining that it shared information about the deadly pandemic in a timely manner with the international community and that the virus did not originate from the Wuhan lab.

Earlier in February, the Chinese envoy to India stated that the virus “originated from nature” and not in laboratories, unlike what the rumour mills have to say.

“We still don’t have enough knowledge. This virus originated from nature, not man-made. The virus is terrible but the rumour is more terrible,” Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong said when asked whether there was a possibility of it being accidentally released from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and not from the seafood market.