[OFF TOPIC] Coronavirus Pandemic

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https://www.ibtimes.sg/coronavirus-leaked-wuhan-lab-after-staff-accidentally-sprayed-blood-some-uk-ministers-believe-so-42468

 

Coronavirus leaked from Wuhan lab after staff accidentally sprayed with blood? Some UK ministers believe so

 

UK government officials and ministers are not ruling out the theory that COVID-19 was leaked in a Wuhan lab after researchers at the lab were accidentally sprayed with blood.

Visualization of the effectiveness of face masks amid coronavirus

 

UK ministers believe the theory that the coronavirus outbreak may have been caused by an accidental leak by a Wuhan laboratory is "credible," raising questions over claims made by health officials that the deadly virus was traced to a wet market in the Chinese city.

 

Theory 'no longer being discounted' by UK government

 

Senior UK government officials claim that while "the balance of scientific advice" suggests that COVID-19 was first transmitted to humans from a live animal market in Wuhan, a leak from a laboratory in the city is "no longer being discounted," as reported by the Daily Mail on Sunday.

 

A member of Cobra, the emergency cross-departmental committee led by Boris Johnson, said last night that while UK intelligence does not dispute claims that the virus was "zoonotic," which means it originated from animals, it has not ruled out the possibility that the virus could have been leaked from a Wuhan research laboratory.

 

The member of the top-level committee, which receives detailed and classified briefings from the country's security services, said: "There is a credible alternative view [to the zoonotic theory] based on the nature of the virus. Perhaps it is no coincidence that there is that laboratory in Wuhan. It is not discounted."

Lab researchers accidentally sprayed with blood?

 

Conspiracy theorists have been pushing the story for quite some time now that the virus was leaked by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is located just 16 km away from the notorious animal market. According to the state-run People's Daily newspaper, the institute was "capable of conducting experiments with highly pathogenic microorganisms."

 

Coronavirus

Despite being a million-dollar institution with high security protocols, there are reports claiming that researchers at the institute became infected with COVID-19 after being accidentally sprayed by blood, and then transmitting the virus to the local population.

 

We already know that the institute was carrying out research on bats and was looking for scientists that can help study the relationship between bats and coronavirus thanks to a series of job listings posted by the institute in November 2019, which have recently come to light.

 

Another research lab in the city, the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control, which is barely three miles away from the Huanan wet market, the alleged "ground zero" of coronavirus, also regularly conducted experiments on bats to study the transmission of coronaviruses, as recently pointed out by a Chinese documentary.

 

Bat research at the Wuhan CDC

A study conducted by the South University of Technology also concluded that COVID-19 "probably" originated in the Centre for Disease Control, although shortly after its research was published, the paper was pulled from a social networking site for scientists and researchers.

 

Labs did not follow standard infection-control protocol

 

According to American microbiology expert Professor Richard Ebright, although the evidence suggests COVID-19 was not engineered in one of the Wuhan laboratories, it could easily have leaked from the labs while it was being analysed.

 

Professor Ebright said there is evidence to prove that scientists at the Centre for Disease Control and the Institute of Virology studied the viruses with only "Level 2" security instead of the recommended "Level 4," which does not provide sufficient protection to staff members against infections.

 

Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 Wikimedia Commons

 

"Virus collection, culture, isolation, or animal infection would pose a substantial risk of infection of a lab worker, and from the lab worker then the public," he told the Daily Mail.

 

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2004 was due to a leak from a laboratory in 2004, killing one person and infecting nine others. The leak was due to negligence, for which five senior officials at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention were punished.

 

Lab researcher identified as 'patient zero'

 

Interestingly enough, early reports of the first patient identified with COVID-19, were traced back to the Institute of Virology. A Lancet study also revealed that the "patient zero," a woman named Huang Yanling, had never visited the Wuhan animal market but worked as a researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, as previously reported.

 

However, the claim was dismissed by the institute as "fake information," stating that Huang left the institute in 2015, was in good health and had not been diagnosed by coronavirus.

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https://www.ibtimes.sg/wuhan-labs-job-postings-coronavirus-bats-research-scientists-november-fuels-conspiracy-theory

 

Wuhan lab's job postings for 'coronavirus and bats' research scientists in November fuels conspiracy theory

 

The Wuhan Institute of Virology posted job listings looking for scientists to "research the relationship between the coronavirus and bats" weeks before the coronavirus outbreak

A series of job listings posted by the Wuhan Institute of Virology weeks before the coronavirus outbreak in the Chinese city has reawakened the conspiracy theory which suggests that the deadly virus was leaked by a Wuhan lab.

 

As pointed out by the National Review, the Wuhan Institute of Virology posted a job listing on November 18, 2019, for "scientists to come to research the relationship between the coronavirus and bats."

 

Looking for scientists to conduct research on 'coronavirus and bats'

"Taking bats as the research object, I will answer the molecular mechanism that can coexist with Ebola and SARS- associated coronavirus for a long time without the disease, and its relationship with flight and longevity," reads the Google translation of the posting. "Virology, immunology, cell biology, and multiple omics are used to compare the differences between humans and other mammals."

 

On December 24, 2019, the institute posted a second listing. The duties and responsibilities of the job posting included "long-term research on the pathogenic biology of bats carrying important viruses has confirmed the origin of bats of major new human and livestock infectious diseases such as SARS and SADS, and a large number of new bat and rodent new viruses have been discovered and identified."

 

According to Matthew Tye, a China-based documentary filmmaker and YouTuber who makes videos based on information obtained from public records, the second listing essentially translates to "we've discovered a new and terrible virus, and would like to recruit people to come deal with it."

 

This is in line with the timeline of the outbreak. On December 31, about three weeks after doctors reported the first cases, the Chinese government notified the World Health Organization (WHO) of a "mystery pneumonia" that had hospitalized dozens of people in the city of Wuhan.

 

Was COVID-19 leaked accidentally?

 

A recently discovered Chinese documentary has added further fuelled the conspiracy theory. As previously reported, a seven-minute documentary film, posted online in December, shortly before the COVID-19 outbreak began, shows the lab's researcher Tian Junhua and his colleague exploring a cave to capture the nocturnal creatures for samples while wearing protective suits.

 

In the documentary, Tian himself expresses the dangers of coming in close contact with bats due to the potential exposure to a host of viruses carried by them. Tian once failed to wear protective gear in a cave and as a result, was exposed to bat urine. In order to avoid contracting a disease, he was forced to quarantine himself for 14 days – the same self-isolation period recommended for people exposed to COVID-19. You can watch the documentary below:

 

 

The revelation that the institute collected bat viruses for research combined with the fact that Wuhan virology lab is located just a few hundred yards away from the Huanan wet market, which was identified by health officials as the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, has led many to believe that the first COVID-19 infection may have occurred due to a laboratory accident and the job postings will give conspiracy theorists more evidence to support their claim.

[Fly_like_a_don 936]

@up and down some say that in news channels here too .But some say it's just fake. 

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4 minutes ago, Fly_like_a_don said:

@up and down some say that in news channels here too .But they say it's just fake. 

 

You are right. It is hard to proof anything. However the facts of the missing patient 0 Huang Yan Ling cannot be dismissed. People cannot disappear just like that.

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@Fly_like_a_don

 

It is all an accident. Nobody wanted it to happen. China scientists led by Shi Zhengli conducted research on Bats Coronavirus. Then the bats infected the scientists doing research at the lab. That is how the virus escaped. Shi Zhengli herself has published 4 research papers related to Bats Coronavirus explaining the researches that she and her team has done.

[Fly_like_a_don 936]

But sadly we are all facing it. Almost 8000 cases in India. 

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Just now, Fly_like_a_don said:

But sadly we are all facing it. Almost 8000 cases in India. 

 

Yes I can understand your feelings. More and more cases in India. Actually this virus escaped from the lab as an accident when the virus infected the scientists doing the research in the Wuhan lab. At the intial stage as early as November 41 people in Wuhan are infected with the virus. However only 14 of them have gone to the Wuhan Seafood Market. Another 27 of them did not even go to the Wuhan Seafood Market. The other 27 of them got the virus directly from the Wuhan lab. These 27 people consisted of the scientists from the Wuhan lab who then pass the virus to their close contacts. Huang Yan Ling is the patient 0 who is the first scientist in the lab to have caught the virus.

[Fly_like_a_don 936]

I was little optimistic about my state Karnataka which has 207 cases and it's 1 month 2 days since 1st case.Average of 6 cases approximately per day.With 16 cases day before and 10 cases yesterday. 

Also surprising 1 patients with history of  SARI died in a district later tested positive but none of his close contacts are positive with covid after repeated testing. This is a mystery. 

 

 

It looks controlled but then govt has decided to seal the state fearing reports from a statistical company saying 10000 patients are infected already. So everything except hospitals will be closed. Grocery can be sold in vehicles and online delivery of medicine to take place. Volunteers have signed in to take the duty to be assigned places to check entry and exit of people. Not just military but women ASHA workers are also been assigned job. Have to see will it be implemented or cancelled last moment. 

 

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4 minutes ago, Fly_like_a_don said:

I was little optimistic about my state Karnataka which has 207 cases and it's 1 month 2 days since 1st case.Average of 6 cases approximately per day.With 16 cases day before and 10 cases yesterday. 

Also surprising 1 patients with history of  SARI died in a district later tested positive but none of his close contacts are positive with covid after repeated testing. This is a mystery. 

 

 

It looks controlled but then govt has decided to seal the state fearing reports from a statistical company saying 10000 patients are infected already. So everything except hospitals will be closed. Grocery can be sold in vehicles and online delivery of medicine to take place. Volunteers have signed in to take the duty to be assigned places to check entry and exit of people. Not just military but women ASHA workers are also been assigned job. Have to see will it be implemented or cancelled last moment. 

 

 

I am sure the Indian government is doing all he can to stop the spread of the virus in India despite financial constraint in India. We all understand that India is not a very rich country either. Somehow I think the lockdown imposed has somehow helped to slow down the spread of the virus. We in Australia are considered lucky as mass testing can be done here. In Australia uptill yesterday we have done mass testing for 338,346 people in the country although out country is so much smaller compared to India who is the second biggest country in the world wide could just managed 189,111. So big difference here. However, I do understand the financial constraint in India. So it is alright.

[Fly_like_a_don 936]

1 minute ago, up and down said:

 

I am sure the Indian government is doing all he can to stop the spread of the virus in India despite financial constraint in India. We all understand that India is not a very rich country either. Somehow I think the lockdown imposed has somehow helped to slow down the spread of the virus. We in Australia are considered lucky as mass testing can be done here.

I guess  my state is not that unlucky ,not a very densely populated state except few districts. And yeah mass census around 4 of the 6 crore ppl has been completed. That would help pen down the origin and travel history. And now every district has separate website with all info about patients. 

 

But I'd be worried about Maharashtra and other states. Lockdown here started like 25 days ago with 30 cases or so unlike some other states