Wuhan: The WHO expert team visited the P4 lab inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) on Wednesday, a place that became target of a storm of Western public opinion following a massive smear campaign led by some US politicians. The visit came after days of intensive field work looking for the origins of the novel coronavirus. The WIV has played a crucial role in global scientific cooperation. In addition to being fully transparent in its operations, it has also refuted conspiracy theories and unproven allegations about its links to COVID-19. Peter Ben Embarek, the scientist leading the WHO team, confirmed with the Global Times that the experts visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the P4 lab in the institute on Wednesday.
He told the Global Times in an earlier interview that the team would meet Shi Zhengli, a leading virologist from the lab, who has been dubbed “Bat Woman” due to her years of research in bats and viruses and achievements in this field. Founded in 1956, the WIV is home to China’s first high-level biosafety laboratory for studying class-four pathogens, which, like similar biosafety labs around the world, follows strict inspection and international standards. It was also one of the designated agencies of the National Health Commission to submit the genome sequence of the novel coronavirus to the WHO on January 12, 2020.
However, the place has been ruthlessly smeared by some anti-China politicians, such as former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as part of their long-term strategy to incite a Cold War-like confrontation with China, with no respect being given to science and facts. Those allegations appeared “ridiculous” to those who work at the lab, and are not even worth refuting, sources close to the matter told the Global Times.
For instance, one unfounded allegation cited by US agencies was a report by the London-based NBC News Verification Unit last May which claimed there was no cellphone activity in a high-security section of the Wuhan Institute of Virology from October 7 through October 24, 2019, and that there may have been a “hazardous event” sometime between October 6 and October 11. Such reports were also part of a choreographed campaign supporting the “Wuhan lab virus leak theory” hyped by Western politicians.
– The Daily Mail-Global Times News exchange item
