Originally published June 12, 2023 8:02 am PDT
In a shocking report, The Times of London has uncovered a series of secretive operations and military connections surrounding the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19.
The Times has unveiled a compelling investigation suggesting that COVID may have originated in a lab, rather than from natural zoonotic transmission.
The report ties the outbreak to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and posits a significant involvement of the Chinese military.
According to the investigation, the Wuhan Institute began conducting secret military-funded experiments on bat coronaviruses as early as 2016, becoming notably less transparent about their work.
Allegedly, the Institute also engaged in risky “gain-of-function” experiments which speed up viral mutation rates, potentially making them more lethal and contagious.
One investigator involved in the probe claimed, “They were working with the nine different Covid variants.”
“We are confident they were working on a closer unpublished variant—possibly collected in Mojiang,” they added.
This points to the possibility of human manipulation, which can increase the pathogenicity of viruses.
The investigation also claimed that the Wuhan Institute had been carrying out classified research on behalf of the Chinese military since 2017, suggesting deeper military ties than previously known.
Notably, the Times’ report brings attention to Zhou Yusen, a decorated military scientist at the Wuhan Institute.
Zhou allegedly filed a patent for a COVID vaccine as early as February 2020, only a month after China publicly acknowledged the virus outbreak.
A U.S. report suggested that the vaccine must have been in the works no later than November 2019, coinciding with the estimated start of the pandemic.
Another startling revelation was the Institute’s reported activity in November 2019.
At that time, researchers allegedly working on advanced coronavirus research fell ill with COVID symptoms.
Subsequently, the Institute issued a patent for a lab safety tourniquet and requested an incinerator for sanitizing laboratory air, pointing to possible containment issues.
Moreover, a 2015 book authored by People’s Liberation Army (PLA) researchers, which included one of the editors collaborating with Wuhan scientists, outlined a concept of genetic “bioweapons.”
The book discusses the possibility of artificially manipulating a virus into a human disease, which could then be weaponized and unleashed, raising further concerns about the military’s involvement in virus research.
The Times’ report outlines how U.S. virologist Ralph Baric at the University of North Carolina had already been leading “truly cutting-edge experiments” focusing on techniques “to fuse together different pathogens by mixing their genes.”
“Ominously, tools exist for simultaneously modifying the genomes for increased virulence [and] transmissibility,” Baric wrote in a 2006 paper. “These bioweapons could be targeted to humans, domesticated animals or crops, causing a devastating impact on human civilization.”
Baric tested the effect of these lab-created mutant viruses on people by creating “humanized” mice by injecting them with genes that morphed their lungs and vascular systems to be human-like.
In 2012, the WIV’s Dr. Shi Zhengli discovered a virus closely matching Sars, labeled as WIV1, which was proven to infect human cells.
However, they failed to cultivate sufficient quantities of another Sars-like virus, SHC014, for similar testing.
Shi solicited the aid of Baric in 2013.
Baric’s team used the SHC014’s genetic sequence provided by WIV to recreate the genes from its spike proteins.
This “spike gene” was then inserted into a copy of the original Sars virus created in Baric’s lab and tested on humanized mice.
In 2014, the EcoHealth Alliance received a $3.7 million grant from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), out of which over $630,000 was allocated to the Wuhan lab and Shi’s team.
However, the same year, Barack Obama announced a moratorium on all gain-of-function experiments that could increase a pathogen’s infectiousness or lethality.
While this should have halted the Wuhan-North Carolina collaboration, the NIH approved its continuation citing urgency and safety, thanks to Baric’s persuasion.
Published results from Baric and Shi’s joint research in November 2015 revealed a potent potential killer.
The engineered virus, a combination of the Sars copy and SHC014, induced severe lung damage in humanized mice and was resistant to Sars vaccines.
This raised significant concern, with Simon Wain-Hobson, a Pasteur Institute virologist, warning, “If the virus escaped, nobody could predict the trajectory.”
The Wuhan Institute started creating new virus mutants using Baric’s techniques, including plans to generate an infectious version of the deadly MERS virus.
Despite safety concerns and U.S. regulations requiring level 3 precautions for such work, most of this was conducted under lower biosafety level 2 precautions, prompting U.S. embassy personnel in 2018 to report a severe lack of appropriately trained staff to safely operate the high-containment laboratory.
The Wuhan Institute carried out a high-risk experiment, injecting lab-grown mutant viruses into mice with human-like lungs, resulting in an extremely deadly virus that was far more lethal and infectious than its original components.
The catastrophic findings, including a 75% fatality rate among mice, were not fully disclosed in funding reports to the NIH, with EcoHealth’s Peter Daszak downplaying the severity and only revealing the full deadly results after the onset of the COVID pandemic.
The Times’ investigation raises serious questions about the potential involvement of the Chinese military in the development of SARS-CoV-2 and the possibility of the virus escaping from the Wuhan Institute.
The Chinese government has consistently denied allegations of a laboratory leak.
There has been a significant dispute between Republican Senator Rand Paul (KY) and former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci regarding the funding of the WIV and its involvement in gain-of-function research.
Gain-of-function research refers to intentionally modifying viruses to make them more pathogenic or transmissible for the purpose of studying them.
The WIV, in collaboration with the U.S.-based nonprofit organization EcoHealth Alliance, has been involved in this type of research, which is classified as “research of concern” by the U.S. government.
This is despite the U.S. government’s regulations on such research.
Interestingly, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has admitted to providing funding for gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses conducted at the Wuhan lab in China.
This admission contradicts Dr. Fauci’s repeated claims to Congress that such funding did not occur.
The NIH-funded experiment conducted in Wuhan presented potential biosafety risks and has raised concerns about its possible connection to the COVID pandemic.
