Originally published June 15, 2023 2:56 pm PDT
A new report published on the online publishing platform Substack suggests the first individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 may have been Chinese scientists working at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).
The report, citing U.S. government sources, specifically points to three scientists engaged in so-called “gain-of-function” research on SARS-like coronaviruses.
According to the report, from Substack accounts “Public” and “Racket,” the three individuals in question were Ben Hu, Yu Ping, and Yan Zhu.
The publication claims that “the first people infected by the virus, ‘patients zero,’ included Ben Hu, a researcher who led the WIV’s ‘gain-of-function’ research on SARS-like coronaviruses, which increases the infectiousness of viruses.”
It further insists that these three scientists were the first to fall ill with COVID-19-like symptoms in November 2019.
Alina Chan, a molecular biologist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, said, “Ben Hu is essentially the next Shi Zhengli. He was her star pupil. He had been making chimeric SARS-like viruses and testing these in humanized mice. If I had to guess who would be doing this risky virus research and most at risk of getting accidentally infected, it would be him.”
U.S. government sources affirmed with certainty that these were the identities of the three WIV scientists who developed symptoms consistent with COVID-19 in the fall of 2019.
The report quoted an anonymous source who said they were “100%” certain of the identities.
Despite the previous consensus that the virus’s origin may never be known, Public and Racket indicate that “answers increasingly look within reach.”
Furthermore, a US State Department investigator quoted by The Times of London reportedly said, “It has become increasingly clear that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was involved in the creation, promulgation, and cover-up of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The report also indicates that a classified document, expected to be released next week by the Directorate of National Intelligence, may reveal more about these WIV scientists’ connection to the early spread of the virus.
The publication also details concerns about safety practices in the Wuhan lab.
Chan explains that the WIV’s research on SARS-like viruses was performed at a safety level, “BSL-2,” lower than required for such potentially dangerous work.
The report also points to alleged funding of gain-of-function research by the U.S. National Institute of Health and NIAID, headed by Francis Collins and Anthony Fauci, despite a federal funding ban on such research imposed by President Barack Obama in 2014.
The report further suggests that U.S. government officials have been withholding key evidence about the pandemic’s origin.
“You would expect the country of origin to be defensive,” said Chan, “but you wouldn’t expect a country receiving the virus to be withholding key evidence.”
This revelation could have significant ramifications on the investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and the subsequent global response to the pandemic.
Alina Chan commented, “If you knew that this was likely a lab-enhanced pathogen, there are so many things you could have done differently. This whole pandemic could have been reshaped.”
The report calls for a full accounting and concludes with a statement from Jamie Metzl, a former member of the WHO expert advisory committee, who said, “The time has come for a full accounting.”
