Scientist says COVID more likely to be leaked from Wuhan lab, not naturally originated

As the controversy around the COVID-19 origin continues to baffle the scientists, a Candian molecular biologist on Wednesday told the UK MPs that the novel Coronavirus is more likely to have been leaked from a laboratory in China’s Wuhan which ultimately became the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. As per Wales Online report, Dr Alina Chan, who specialises in gene therapy and cell engineering, told the British MPs on the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee that the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have been caused by the unique feature of the SARS-CoV-2 called furin cleavage site. 

Chan, the co-author of ‘Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19’, noted that the furin cleavage site has been linked to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the lab which has been the centre of COVID-19 lab leak theory. When the biologist was asked by the UK parliament panel’s evidence session on scientific research, about the probability of a lab leak as the origin of Coronavirus pandemic, Chan said that a lab origin is more likely than natural origin at the present. 

Wales Online quoted Chan as saying, “I think the lab origin is more likely than not. Right now it’s not safe for people who know about the origin of the pandemic to come forward. But we live in an era where there is so much information being stored that it will eventually come out.”

“We have heard from many top virologists that a genetically engineered origin is reasonable and that includes virologists who made modifications to the first Sars virus. We know this virus has a unique feature, called the furin cleavage site, and without this feature there is no way this would be causing this pandemic”, she added, as per the report. 

Chan cited a leaked proposal including WIV

As per the report, Chan cited a proposal that was leaked showing that EcoHealth and the Wuhan Insitute of Virology were “developing a pipeline for inserting novel furin cleavage sites. So, you find these scientists who said in early 2018 ‘I’m going to put horns on horses’ and at the end of 2019 a unicorn turns up in Wuhan city.”

Matthew White Ridley, 5th Viscount Ridley, as per the report, also said that he believed the lab leak theory was the origin of COVID-19. The member of the UK’s House of Lord, Ridley co-authored a book on the origin of the novel Coronavirus with Chan, told the MPs that “It’s more likely than not because we have to face the fact after two months we knew the origins of Sars, and after a couple of months we knew Mers was though through camels, but after two years we still haven't found a single infected animal that could be the progenitor, and that’s incredibly surprising.”

He also noted that finding out the origin of Coronavirus is essential so that the next pandemic can be prevented. Ridley was quoted by the media outlet as saying, “We need to find out so we can prevent the next pandemic. We need to know whether we should be tightening up work in laboratories or whether we should be tightening up regulations related to wildlife markets. At the moment we are really not doing either.” He went on to say that the authorities need to know to “deter bad actors who are watching this episode and thinking that unleashing a pandemic is something they could get away with.”

(IMAGE: AP/Unsplash)