Contrary to Dr Daszak et al., evidence now is public, that the Wuhan Institute of Virology kept live bats in cages! Not only that, but there is a video of a bat hanging from one lab worker’s hat, my very favourite video. So, could someone have got infected and transferred the disease to the outside world? How could it not happen, given such slack safety standards?
“The Wuhan Institute of Virology kept live bats in cages, new footage from inside the facility has revealed, disproving denials from World Health Organisation investigators who claimed the suggestion was a “conspiracy”.
An official Chinese Academy of Sciences video to mark the launch of the new biosafety level 4 laboratory in May 2017 speaks about security precautions in place if “an accident” occurs and reveals there had been “intense clashes” with the French government during the construction of the laboratory.
The video shows bats held in a cage at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, along with a scientist feeding a worm to a bat.
The 10-minute video – titled “The construction and research team of Wuhan P4 laboratory of Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences” – also features interviews with the lab’s leading scientists.
The WHO report investigating the origin of the pandemic failed to mention that any bats had been kept at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and only its annex referred to animals being housed there.
“The animal room in the P4 facility can handle a variety of species, including primate work with SARS-CoV-2,” it states.
US government officials investigating the origin of Covid-19 had questioned how a naturally occurring virus from bats in the Yunnan Province in southwestern China could have started a pandemic in Wuhan – a 20-hour drive away – without leaving any clusters or outbreaks along the way.
This revelation is crucial because it raises the possibility a lab employee may have become infected from a diseased bat housed in cages at the Wuhan institute.
Samples could also have been subject to genetic manipulation and other gain-of-function research which aims to increase the transmissibility and virility of viruses, ostensibly in order to predict which may be able to infect humans and cause a pandemic.
World leaders had called for the closure of Chinese wet markets where it had been believed bats were butchered and sold.
Bats were not sold at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market but were kept at the level 2 and 3 laboratories at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
A member of the WHO team investigating the origin of the pandemic in Wuhan, zoologist Peter Daszak, said it was a conspiracy to suggest bats were held at the Wuhan institute.
In one tweet in December, Dr Daszak said: “No BATS were sent to Wuhan lab for genetic analysis of viruses collected in the field. That’s not how this science works. We collect bat samples, send them to the lab. “We RELEASE bats where we catch them.”
In another tweet, he wrote: “This is a widely circulated conspiracy theory. This piece describes work I’m the lead on and labs I’ve collaborated with for 15 years. They DO NOT have live or dead bats in them.
“There is no evidence anywhere that this happened. It’s an error I hope will be corrected.”
This month, Dr Daszak appeared to retract his earlier denials and admitted the Wuhan Institute of Virology may have housed bats.
He also admitted the WHO team had not asked them about it.
“We didn’t ask them if they had bats. I wouldn’t be surprised if, like many other virology labs, they were trying to set up a bat colony. I know it’s happening in labs here and in other countries,” he wrote on Twitter on June 1. “You’re right, labs in US & around world are trying to keep bats to test viral immune responses etc.
“None are successfully doing this at scale like lab mice & animals are always screened virus-free before expts, (sic) so even if WIV were trying this, it’s prob irrelevant for origins.”
The Chinese Academy of Sciences video shows bats in cages at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and a researcher feeding a worm to a bat. It was discovered by researchers investigating the origin of the pandemic who call themselves DRASTIC.
The group’s digital archivist, “Jesse”, found the video while the group’s co-ordinator, who goes by a pseudonym of “Billy Bostickson” for safety reasons, has long complained about evidence bats were housed in the Wuhan laboratories.
Kevin Carrico, a senior lecturer in Chinese studies at Monash University, translated the video for The Australian.
It states there were difficulties behind-the-scenes during the construction phase of the level 4 laboratory. The lab was initially meant to be a joint undertaking between the French and Chinese governments.
“Our collaboration with France on this project went through more than a decade of intense clashes resulting from our different cultural backgrounds and understandings,” the video says. After it was built, the French scientists and officials were evicted from the laboratory, sparking concerns among French intelligence about the type of biological research China planned to undertake there.
In the video, Wuhan Biosafety Level 4 laboratory director Yuan Zhiming discusses the technical support in the central control room in case there are “any accidents”. “Staff in our central control room remain in constant contact with staff in our laboratory,” he said.
“Providing necessary technical support for their experiments as well as for any accidents.”
The video also shows a bat hanging off a researcher’s hat while the narrator speaks about the work of the lab’s director of emerging infectious diseases, Shi Zhengli. “Over more than a decade, Shi Zhengli’s research team has collected more than 15,000 bat samples in China and many countries of Africa, searching for the origins of SARS, as well as isolating and characterising many new viruses,” the narrator says.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology has now collected 19,000 bat samples, with coronaviruses detected in 2481 samples.
The SARS-like coronaviruses had only been found in Yunnan, according to information Shi Zhengli gave the WHO.
Dr Daszak has not responded to requests for comment.”
I wonder why?