COVID-19: US Intelligence Agency Accesses Massive Genetic Data From China’s Wuhan Lab
The United States intelligence agencies have accessed massive genetic data from the lab in the centre of the coronavirus lab leak theory, China’s Wuhan Virology laboratory. After over a year of COVID-19 pandemic, as experts continue to look into the origin of the novel coronavirus, US media reports on Thursday stated that the American intelligence got hold of the data from the Wuhan lab which could potentially enhance the understanding of the novel coronavirus with the origin in China.
CNN quoted sources saying that it still remains unclear how or when the US intelligence agency gained access to the information. However, reportedly, the machines involved in the creation and processing of such genetic data from viruses are connected to external cloud-based servers leaving the scope of being hacked. The massive data, as per the report, contains the genetic blueprint information from the Wuhan lab’s virus samples. Several American officials believe that China might have been the source of the COVID-19 outbreak. Previously, multiple experts and media reports have even warned that the coronavirus could have been leaked from China’s Wuhan lab.
China’s Communist government has strongly opposed the reports as to the Wuhan lab. However, notably, when a team of the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed the visit to the Wuhan lab and the city’s controversial Huanan Seafood Market, Beijing unnecessarily delayed the visit giving baseless reasons. Even now, China is appearing to resist the second phase of the WHO origin probe and is promoting the UN health agency to look to labs in other countries including the United States.
UN Urges China To ‘cooperate Fully’ With WHO’s Probe
Amid Beijing’s rejection to further probe into COVID-19 origins, the United Nations on July 23 called on all member states, including China, to fully cooperate with the WHO. This came after the United Nations health agency proposed the second phase of studies into the origins of the coronavirus in China, including audits of laboratories and markets in the city of Wuhan, calling for transparency from authorities. However, China had rejected the WHO proposal with Zeng Yixin, who is a vice minister of China’s National Health Commission (NHC), telling reporters that the WHO’s plan “disregards common sense and defies science”.
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