More proof Covid came from a lab leak? China ‘DELETED’ samples from earliest patients that indicated virus was circulating in Wuhan BEFORE seafood market outbreak in December 2019
- Dozens of test samples from earliest patients in Wuhan were removed by China
- American professor who spotted their deletion recovered and analyzed 13 files
- Found viruses much more evolved than would be expected for a new pathogen
- Scientists said it confirmed Covid was spreading before China’s official timeline
Professor Jesse Bloom found dozens of test samples from the earliest confirmed Covid patients in epicentre Wuhan had been pulled by Chinese scientists from an international database
Chinese scientists have deleted crucial data from the earliest confirmed Covid patients, it emerged today amid intense scrutiny about the true origins of the disease.
Dozens of test samples from patients in epicentre Wuhan were found to have been wiped from an international database used to track the virus’ evolution.
The files could have provided vital clues about how the virus originated and how long it had been spreading before the seafood market outbreak in December 2019.
The American professor who spotted their deletion and managed to recover some of the data said they suggested Covid was circulating long before China’s official timeline.
He found the early samples of the virus were more evolved than would be expected of a pathogen that had recently jumped from animals to humans — but did not say it gave more weight to the ‘lab leak’ theory.
Professor Jesse Bloom, a virologist from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, said he believed China had removed the files to ‘obscure their existence’.
British scientists told MailOnline the findings confirm Covid was spreading in people before being linked to wet markets, ‘perhaps months before’.
The latest cover-up comes amid mounting suspicion the virus may have accidentally leaked from a high-level biosecurity laboratory in Wuhan.
In a tweet this morning, Boris Johnson’s former chief aide Dominic Cummings said Professor Bloom’s find pointed further ‘towards’ the ‘lab leak’ theory.
The files (shown to have been removed, above) could have provided vital clues about how the virus originated and how long it had been spreading before the outbreak was reported in December 2019
While China has tried to insist the virus originated elsewhere, academics, politicians and the media have begun to contemplate the possibility it leaked from a high-level biochemical lab in Wuhan – raising suspicions that Chinese officials simply hid evidence of the early spread
The cover-up was detailed in a scientific paper titled ‘Recovery of deleted deep sequencing data sheds more light on the early Wuhan SARS-CoV-2 epidemic’ today.
Forty-five positive samples had originally been uploaded to the National Institute of Health‘s (NIH) Sequence Read Archive by the Wuhan University in early March 2020.
The NIH is a US Government agency responsible for biomedical and public health research.
The samples were published as part of a study into diagnosing Covid patients using PCR tests – just days before the Chinese Government issued an order requiring approval of the publication of all coronavirus data.
Professor Bloom noted all 45 samples have since been pulled from the database, with ‘no plausible scientific reason for the deletion’.
He said the most likely explanation was to ‘abuse’ and ‘obscure’ the truth about the origins of the pandemic.
The virologist was able to partially recover 13 of the samples using Google Cloud and then sequence the viruses.
He noted several genetic differences between the strains in the deleted samples and the virus that eventually spread around the world.
In a Twitter thread detailing his findings today, Professor Bloom said: ‘Although events that led to emergence of #SARSCoV2 in Wuhan are unclear (zoonosis vs lab accident), everyone agrees deep ancestors are coronaviruses from bats.
In a tweet this morning, Boris Johnson’s former chief aide Dominic Cummings said Professor Bloom’s find pointed further ‘towards’ the ‘lab leak’ theory
The latest cover-up comes amid mounting suspicion that the virus may have accidentally leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (pictured)
Wuhan lab at centre of Covid origin cover-up is nominated for China’s top science award
The Wuhan Institute of Virology at the centre of the Covid-19 lab leak theory has been nominated for China’s top science award for its work during the pandemic.
The laboratory was put forward for the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ 2021 Outstanding Science and Technology Achievement Prize.
The country’s ‘bat woman’ scientist, Shi Zhengli, who leads research into the animal at the lab, also received a special mention from the committee.
A description posted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences said it had carried out ‘comprehensive’ research into Covid that have laid the foundation for scientists around the world to study the virus.
Ironically, the lab was praised for ‘follow-up research on the origin’ of Covid.
A full description seen by The Times said: ‘The research group collectively has completed the most comprehensive and systematic identification research on the aetiology of Covid-19, and the results of the project have laid an important foundation and technology platform for the follow-up research on the origin, epidemiology and pathogenic mechanism of the Covid-19 virus, as well as the research and development of drugs and vaccines.
‘It provided key scientific and technological support for epidemic prevention and control.’
The nomination comes despite growing speculation that the virus did not occur naturally but escaped from the lab located just a few miles away from the Wuhan wet market where the outbreak was first identified.
Critics have lashed back against scientists who last year refused to entertain the idea which was dismissed as a conspiracy theory.
‘Therefore, we’d expect the first #SARSCoV2 sequences would be more similar to bat coronaviruses, and as #SARSCoV2 continued to evolve it would become more divergent from these ancestors. But that is *not* the case!
‘Instead, early Huanan Seafood Market #SARSCoV2 viruses are more different from bat coronaviruses than #SARSCoV2 viruses collected later in China and even other countries.’
British experts commenting on the study said it confirmed long-held suspicions that Covid was spreading before December 2019.
They also warned that it highlighted the flaws in the World Health Organization’s investigation into Covid’s origins, which is being carefully supervised by China.
Professor Lawrence Young, a molecular biologist at the University of Warwick, told MailOnline: ‘The study further cements the fact the virus was circulating in Wuhan before the outbreak in December.
‘It highlights and reinforces the inadequacy of the original WHO investigation, which was compromised by not being able to access data.
‘This just shows how important it is to understand the early spread of the virus and any future investigation really does need to look seriously at the whole issue.
‘It’s particularly worrying that crucial data was uploaded and then deleted – it’s odd behaviour.’
Asked about what the findings reveal about the origins of the virus, Professor Young said: ‘It doesn’t tell you where the virus came from.’
But he added that it ‘raises suspicions’ and will fuel the the theory that it might have emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which many have suggested.
He added: ‘It [the study] certainly suggests the Covid virus or a very close precursor virus [a less mutated version] was circulating before it started to take off.
‘It could’ve jumped to humans much earlier than the consensus thinking, perhaps even months before.’
The study was shared by former No10 aide Mr Cummings today who said evidence was moving ‘towards’ the China lab leak theory. However, he stressed that the idea was still ‘unproven’.
Mr Cummings, responding to another scientist who endorsed Professor Bloom’s research, tweeted: ‘Yuri has uncovered lots of evidence on this, as he says this deletion is *clear evidence of coverup by China*.
‘Seems to me reasonable to update further towards lab leak hypothesis, though obviously this also remains unproven…’
The Prime Minister has said that the government’s central theory is that the virus was ‘zoonotic’ in origin, and jumped to humans from another species.
But Mr Johnson has said that the possibility that it escaped from the viral institute in Wuhan has not been ruled out.
Top scientists and Government officials in the UK and globally had publicly written off the ‘lab leak’ hypothesis as a conspiracy until recently.
But recent developments and revelations about the type of research that went on at the Wuhan lab has led to growing doubts about the virus’ origin.
US infectious diseases boss Dr Anthony Fauci has faced calls to resign over the scandal after he last year dismissed the theory as nonsense but appeared to be considering it behind closed doors.
Daszak is seen at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2020. His close ties to the lab, his fierce rejection of the idea that COVID-19 could have escaped from its walls, and his absolute rejection of the ‘lab leak’ theory have raised eyebrows
British doctor who tried to gag Wuhan lab leak theory is FIRED from UN commission investigating COVID origins over conflict of interests
British scientist Peter Daszak has been removed from the COVID commission looking at the origins of the pandemic after helping secretly denounce the lab leak theory while failing to mention his close ties to the same facility.
The scandal-hit scientist’s departure from the UN-backed Lancet commission into the virus’s origins was revealed on its website.
It added a sentence in brackets under his photo and above his biography, saying ‘recused from Commission work on the origins of the pandemic.’
No further information on Daszak’s departure was given – but he has faced conflict of interest claims after his close ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology were revealed last month.
Daszak, 55, president of the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance, was one of 28 experts from around the world asked to analyze how best to respond to the pandemic.
The panel comprised leading global figures in public health, economics, philanthropy, diplomacy and politics.
It is organized by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which, according to its website, ‘operates under the auspices of the United Nations to mobilize scientific and technical expertise in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.’
And scientists who put their names to a letter denouncing the ‘lab leak’ theory last year have since changed their minds and said a full inquiry is required.
President Joe Biden has ordered a full investigation into the origin of the pandemic virus and demanded scientists work out whether there is truth to the theory.
The head of the World Health Organization insisted just a day earlier that the theory that Covid emerged from a Wuhan lab has not been ruled out – as he said China should help solve the mystery out of ‘respect’ for the dead.
The body’s director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, suggested that Beijing had not cooperated fully as he urged more ‘transparency’ in the continuing investigation.
There has been mounting controversy over how the virus first emerged – whether through animal contact at a ‘wet’ market in Wuhan or leakage from a highly secure research laboratory in the same city as some have suggested.
China says it is not responsible for the pandemic and has dismissed theories about the disease being manmade.
The latest twist in the lab leak theory saga came yesterday when British scientist Peter Daszak had been removed from a commission looking at the origins of the pandemic.
Professor Daszak secretly denounced the lab leak theory while failing to mention his close ties to the same facility.
The scandal-hit scientist’s departure from the UN-backed Lancet commission into the virus’s origins was revealed on its website.
It added a sentence in brackets under his photo and above his biography, saying ‘recused from Commission work on the origins of the pandemic.’
No further information on Daszak’s departure was given – but he has faced conflict of interest claims after his close ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology were revealed last month.
Daszak, 55, president of the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance, was one of 28 experts from around the world asked to analyze how best to respond to the pandemic.
The panel comprised leading global figures in public health, economics, philanthropy, diplomacy and politics.
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