ladbible logo

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Wuhan Lab Director Shuts Down Conspiracy Theory That Coronavirus Originated There

Wuhan Lab Director Shuts Down Conspiracy Theory That Coronavirus Originated There

"We didn't even know about the existence of the virus, so how could it be leaked from our lab when we didn't have it?"

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Researchers have been trying to work out what started the coronavirus pandemic. They've been able to say with a pretty decent degree of certainty that it came from an animal in the wild, which might have come into contact with a second animal before infecting humans.

But that hasn't stopped many from believing a laboratory in Wuhan, close to where the first case was detected, is to blame.

Image of Wuhan Institute of Virology from 2017.
PA

There are a whole host of conspiracy theories about the lab, with some people believing that researchers were developing it for nefarious reasons or because they were simply studying it and it somehow was released to the public.

But the head of that lab has spoken out for the first time to dispel those rumours.

Wuhan Institute of Virology director Wang Yanyi told state media that the first sample of the virus came to them on 30 December.

"After we checked the pathogen of the sample, we found it contained a new coronavirus," she said.

"We didn't have any knowledge before that, nor had we ever met, researched or kept the virus.

"In fact, like everyone else, we didn't even know about the existence of the virus, so how could it be leaked from our lab when we didn't have it?"

Ms Wang said her laboratory's main goal was to look at the different strains of the SARS virus and see what could be learned. They did have different strains of coronavirus inside the lab that they were working on, however the closest relative to Covid-19 was only a 79 percent match.

PA

The laboratory director continued: "Their research has been focusing on source tracing of SARS. In their research what they pay more attention to and do more research on and try to isolate and obtain are bat coronaviruses similar to SARS.

"What we know that the whole genome of SARS-CoV-2 is only 80 percent similar to that of SARS. It's an obvious difference."

An Essential survey done in Australia last week found that two in five people believe the conspiracy theory. That's despite The World Health Organisation saying all the available data points to the virus coming from an animal in the wild without any human involvement.

Featured Image Credit: CGTN

Topics: News, Coronavirus