In an exclusive, the American Wall Street Journal (WSJ) newspaper, based on a report of the US intelligence, published an article stating that the first source of the COVID-19 outbreak could be the laboratory in Wuhan. In the report, according to the relevant report of the US intelligence, WSJ claims that 3 researchers working at the Wuhan Laboratory in November 2019 fell ill with complaints similar to virus and seasonal flu symptoms and applied to the hospital.
Some officials who spoke to the newspaper and did not want to be identified stated that the intelligence in question still has a level of credibility that should be supported, while others believe that the report is one of the strongest and most robust intelligence on the subject.
The former US President Donald Trump had accused Beijing for the spread of the virus multiple times during his tenure, and the US intelligence report published at the end of last year mentioned the findings that COVID-19 may have originated from a laboratory in Wuhan.
The Chinese administration has firmly denied the allegations and speculated that the virus could have originated outside China, in places like the Fort Detrick military base in Maryland. A delegation from the World Health Organization (WHO) said that they reached the conclusion that the allegations that the virus spread from the laboratory in question were unrealistic. However, the delegation noted that “more timely and comprehensive data” is needed to draw a rock-solid conclusion.
The US infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, in early May said that he was “not convinced” of a natural development of the COVID-19 coronavirus, calling for further investigation into its true origin.
The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic outbreak unravelled in December 2019, when the Chinese city of Wuhan was closed down after it saw a rapid rise from the first cases of the respiratory disease.
Updated 5 PM (IST): Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China Zhao Lijian on Monday at a briefing denied information that allegedly three employees of the Wuhan Institute of Virology fell seriously ill and sought medical help back in November 2019.
(Wuhan Laboratory Image : Global Times)