I have no desire to go down a rabbit hole only to dig out some far- fetched conspiracy theory. Having said that, the murkiness surrounding the origins of this global pandemic has to be thoroughly cleared. Did nature or humans open the Pandora’s box in Wuhan? After all, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is Asia’s largest virus bank.

The first inklings came out in a South China Morning Post news video. 44 persons have been infected by a mysterious illness in Wuhan, China. All have been quarantined. 11 of them in a serious condition.  No medical personnel infected. Most patients worked in the seafood market where birds and rabbits were also sold. Unlike 2002 SARS outbreak, China has quickly shared all information with the World Health Organisation (WHO). Origins and nature of viral pneumonia spread unknown. Medical researchers across China on the job. The government in full control.

Now for some relevant context. As always, Xi Jinping and his CCP comrades muzzled all information about the early days of the virus. Indeed, China weighed in on the WHO and virtually decided on the Committee to first visit Ground Zero.  There was no mention of any lab escape whilst there was not a single shred of evidence of a natural escape from bats.

The Director General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom played perfect PR for the PR (People’s Republic) of China. In his Jan 2020 visit he expressed full solidarity with his hosts and complimented them on the way they had handled the outbreak. 2 months later WHO declared COVID 19 a global pandemic. The institution has morphed into a public-private partnership-a deviation from the UN Charter.  The USA is its largest contributor with $480 million or approx. 22% of the budget, compared to China’s $89 million. However assessment fees are based on population and wealth of the member nation.  The prospect of China becoming a major contributor is very alluring to the Agency.  It needs China on its side.

The drum beaters for ‘the lab leak’ theory were President Trump and his men.  His Secretary of State Mike Pompeo openly declared that Corona virus had escaped from the Wuhan lab. Trump and the Fox News anchors sneered at ‘the Chinese virus’. The liberal media termed this as a racial slur and immediately dismissed this hypothesis. A bio-science scenario snuffed out by political polarisation. Chinese propaganda had won the day. As for the scientists, only those with no conflict of interest spoke up but their versions had few takers. And with time there emerged a UK variant, A South African variant, a Brazilian mutant and an Indian mutant.

Why is ‘the lab leak origins’ plausible? First, the Chinese response. They delayed giving access to the Wuhan lab for months after the initial outbreak guaranteeing that the lab had been deep cleaned before any forensic analysis could be done. They did not share any raw data of the early Covid patients or any lab records or data logs that were critical to understanding the origins of SARS Cov2. A key avenue would have been to run a genetic sequencing on original samples that the lab was working on. The Chinese sign board at the entrance read- No Entry!!! Trespassing Prohibited!!!

18 months after the first cases on record there is not a single shred of evidence that it was transmitted from bats, pangolins, minks, rabbits or frozen meat. There was some buzz about a few young kids in Yunnan province coming down with fever and breathing problems after a visit to a bat cave. This was said to have some similarities to the corona virus symptoms. But Yunnan is 1800 kms from Wuhan and bats do not travel far. Also, these creatures start hibernating from the month of September leaving no possibility for a colony of bats acting as carriers. Reports also emerged that no trace of virus or its RNA molecule was found in the wet market in Wuhan.

Some more perspective on this Centre of Interest/Intrigue- the Wuhan Lab- will be in order. After the 2002 SARS epidemic, China had become obsessed with developing vaccines and cures for such viruses. The Wuhan Institute of Virology was set up in 2014 through French collaboration and US support. By 2017 both had been side-lined. The Chinese State took over all control and the military stepped in. Maj Gen Dr Chen Wei became a key figure. He had earlier been involved in the research for an Ebola vaccine in Africa. It is from here that rumours started that the lab was being used for bio-chemical warfare- to create weaponised viruses. It is also pertinent to note that it was the military which shut down the lab after alarm signals went out.  Another important player is Prof Shi Zhengli, a Director at WIV, famously known as ‘the Batwoman’. She and her team had performed hundreds of experiments on bats and mice. It was common knowledge in scientific circles that the lab researchers were creating new viruses by using reverse engineering on bat coronavirus. Also that humanised mice in the lab confines were very well adjusted to human cells. Juicing up Viruses is done in labs across the world. The novel corona virus has proved to be far more transmissible, virulent, mutant-prone and fatal than SARS 1 in 2002. This indisputably puts the WIV on the investigative radar. Consider this- SARS Cov1 had 8437 reported cases and 813 known deaths from 2002-2004. It was traced to horse-shoe bats in Guangdong province. The current pandemic has already logged 16.9 crore cases and till date more than 35 lakhs people have succumbed across the world. Merits some serious thought and action, right!

On the 24^th May 2021, the Wall Street Journal reported that 3 staff researchers at the Lab were taken acutely ill in Nov 2019 and had to be hospitalised. The official Chinese case of the first novel corona virus patient is the 8^th Dec 2019. Over the years repeated concerns had been raised about the bio-safety of the Wuhan lab with the US embassy in Beijing officially communicating it in the fall of 2017. A major lab like WIV should have been rated at P-4 – complying with the highest bio- safety standards. BSL-4 or Bio-Safety Lab -4. But it was opened for international inspection only in the fall of 2019 and the first safety protocols declared.

The first WHO investigation report in Jan 2020 was co-authored by 17 Chinese scientists (??) many of whom worked with State institutions. An important member was Dr Peter Daszak, whose credentials will be discussed later. The lab-leak angle was barely discussed. A clean-chit? On the 31^st Dec 2019, the Taiwan Central Epidemiology Command Centre has sent a red-flag message to WHO – warning about the possibility of human to human transmission by the virus. Taiwan? Who? Considered by China as its territory and not yet a nation member of the World Health Organisation. Yet again in late Dec 2019 and early Jan 2020, Chinese virologist Li- Meng Yan (Post- Doctoral fellow at Hong Kong University)  sounded the alarm bells. As part of the first medico-forensic team to land in Wuhan she refused to become part of the cover-up. She had to flee to New York and turned whistle-blower. Amongst her observations- China had deliberately suppressed the number of afflicted patients in Wuhan in the early days. Also that her WHO supervisor told her not to cross the red-line by talking about human to human contagion and the high mutation rates.

A sinister trail leads to Dr Ai Fen, Director Emergency Services at Wuhan Hospital, who went missing for many months. In a story which broke more than a year ago, she referred to an early patient ( early Dec 2019) with signs of flu and influenza who did not respond to the conventional treatment. She had broken into a cold sweat when she discovered symptoms of SARS Corona virus. But her seniors at the hospital muzzled her voice and her concerns about human to human transmissions. The Chinese Dragon ensured her disappearance in the critical months when the pandemic was declared. She reappeared later in strange circumstances with an eye surgery which has left her nearly blind in one eye..

Now to the core problem which may have resulted in the leak of a virulent SARS Cov2. The controversial ‘Gain of Function’ research. The underlying mantra- to get ahead of the virus instead of chasing them down. To protect people from viruses which jump from one species to another. They deliberately set out to create dangerous variants of viruses so that they can study and research them. It is a reverse genetic engineering process. Helping pathogens and micro-organisms to grow, reproduce itself and mutate freely into lethal viruses. A Jurassic Park scenario. Fraught with real dangers and risk. The WIV passionately embraced the Gain of Function Research with China’s ambitions to develop capabilities and be a world leader in this critical field also.

 The story gets curiouser and curiouser. The Wuhan lab was set up in 2014. President Obama banned Gain of Function research in Oct 2014 (except for National Security purposes). In May 2014 the National Institute of Health (NIH) and its affiliate National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID- headed by Dr Fauci) gave $ 3.4 million grant to the Eco Health Alliance (ECH) run by Peter Daszak (one of the first scientist investigators to reach Wuhan). ECH sent $600,000 to WIV between 2014 and 2019. The Alliance has 30 member countries. In a recent interview Dr Fauci has denied that these monies were meant or used for Gain of Function research in China. But both he and Dr Daszak remain champions of this risky method of research. In a 2011 co-authored opinion piece published in the Washington Post, Dr Fauci had said as much. So it’s not surprising that throughout 2020 both these top scientists vehemently rejected the lab-leak theory. Further, Global Viral Project has recently sanctioned $1.2 billion for such research projects. One of the important reasons as to why even the media has been blind-sided is deference to the Science experts. Donald McNeil, New York Times Science Reporter has admitted that he had debunked the virus leak possibility out of respect for Dr Fauci’s stand. The latter seems to have done a 180 degree turn in a 11^th May 2021 interview to Politifact, “The leak hypothesis is legitimate and needs to be investigated.”

However, what has created a paradigm shift in the approach to the Wuhan intrigue is a 10,000 word article published on Medium on the 2^nd May 2021. The writer is British scientist Nicholas Wade, earlier associated with the New York Times and The Science Journal. He has brought the lab-leak hypothesis both front and centre. The title is ‘Sustained Chinese Propaganda blocking Covid origin facts’. He says with simple clarity, “There are two possible scenarios. But if you look at all the evidence and ask yourself which scenario explained all the facts better, it seems to me at least, that the lab leak hypothesis explains it a lot better. In their labs they created viruses more dangerous than those which exist in nature. They argued that they could do so safely and that by getting ahead of nature they could predict and prevent natural ‘spillovers’- the cross-over of viruses from animal host to people. If SARS2 had indeed escaped from such a lab experiment a savage blow back could be expected and the storm of public indignation would affect virologists everywhere and not only in China.”

Another respected authority, Italian Professor Tritto has lent authority to this view-point in his book, ‘China Covid 19, The Chimera Which Changed the World’.  Let me bring in another significant voice Dr Ralph Baric of North Carolina University, an eminent virologist and a fervent supporter of Gain of Function research.  For years he has been a confidant and collaborator of Dr Shi Zhengli, (the Batwoman) Director, Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases, Wuhan Institute of Virology. He is one of the 18 scientists who on the 13^th May 2021 wrote an open letter to The Science Journal seeking a more rigorous investigation into the origins of the corona virus, saying that the theory of accidental release from the lab and a natural spill-over both remain viable. There are lab-leaks every year in some lab or the other but they are contained quickly. For instance at the Fort Detrick, a military lab in Maryland USA. In August 2019 its deadly germ research operation was abruptly shut down following serious safety violations- in particular relating to the disposal of dangerous material. 

So how are the 2 major actors performing in this long drawn drama? WHO has not quite lived up to its name.  After its massive endorsement of the Chinese Government in January 2020 itself, this institution has blundered its way along. After declaring the pandemic in March 2020, on the 4^th May 2020, WHO categorically stated that Covid 19 was of natural origin and the lab-leak story was extremely unlikely. On the 19^th May 2020, 137 member nations called for a thorough scrutiny and inquiry into the origins of the virus. The organisation suddenly fell into line. In a 30th Nov 2020 statement it said that it was committed to find out about the origins of the virus. Dr Tedros offered hypothesis and promises. Bats, frozen-meat, minks, pangolins, lab-leak were all on the table. What followed, bordered on the ridiculous. Transmission from frozen meat, bats, directly from animals to humans everything was deemed possible. Finally on the 5^th January 2021, a WHO delegation of 10 specialist virologists landed in Wuhan.  The Chinese tactics of delay and defy had paid off. The WHO Chief issued a disclaimer, “The mission will not find all the answers.” This investigative sojourn turned out to be a charade. With TV cameras lined up- trips to the WIV and the wet meat and seafood market and the Centre of Disease Control, Wuhan. In this well staged event, China also got all the sound-bites it wanted.  So 18 months after SARS Cov 2 was detected, the world is still waiting for answers. A few days back WHO put out its latest status update-, “We must continue to follow the science and leave no stone unturned.”

China refuses to budge and indeed has dug its heels in as the call for an independent probe escalates. Dr Shi Zhengli’s latest report says that, “The novel coronavirus is closer to pangolins than bats.” On the 25^th May 2021, China told the annual gathering of WHO’s decision making body that it considered the investigation in its country complete and attention should now turn to other countries. The Great Wall of China remains impregnable.

Of late, TV channels and media have started saying that ‘the lab leak theory’ has got a new lease of life. Investigation into the origins of the novel corona virus is both legitimate and imperative. If nothing else, to prevent the next pandemic. This can only happen if the Chinese State allows unfettered access to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Wishful thinking, what?