Bat film raises new queries about Wuhan lab and virus

The need for a no-holds-barred investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic is more compelling than ever following new revelations about the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Footage from inside the facility, not seen previously and obtained by Sharri Markson, shows live bats being kept in cages. The finding debunks claims by a World Health Organisation investigator, British zoologist Peter Daszak, who said in December last year that the notion the laboratory kept bats was “a widely circulated conspiracy theory”. But Dr Daszak appeared to backtrack on his earlier denials this month when he admitted investigators did not ask the Wuhan Institute of Virology if it had bats. “I wouldn’t be surprised if, like many other virology labs, they were trying to set up a bat colony,” he tweeted on June 1.

The official Chinese Academy of Sciences video to mark the launch of the biosafety level 4 laboratory in May 2017 speaks about the security precautions that are in place if an accident occurs. The 10-minute video shows bats in a cage at the institute, with vision of a scientist feeding a worm to a bat. The footage was part of Markson’s investigation for her upcoming book, What Really Happened in Wuhan.

The institute had video cameras in place to capture any accidents, Markson said on Sky News on Sunday night. That footage, including anything available from October 2019 when there was a blackout at the compound or from the previous month when the virus database was suddenly pulled offline, must be central to a new investigation. “In the video there is also the promise of transparency with the world,” Markson said. “The statement would be laughable if it wasn’t so deeply tragic.” More than 176 million people have contracted coronavirus worldwide, of whom 3.8 million have died.

This revelation confirming that the institute kept bats is critical because it raises the possibility a laboratory worker may have become infected from a diseased bat. Samples from a bat also could have been subject to genetic manipulation and other gain-of-function research that aims to increase the transmissibility and potency of viruses, ostensibly to predict which may be able to infect humans and cause a pandemic.

In March, a WHO report dismissed the possibility that the pandemic began with a lab leak, saying it was “extremely unlikely” the virus was introduced to humans that way. In Cornwall on Saturday, Scott Morrison said more work was needed to determine the origins of Covid-19, whether it had natural origins or might have leaked from a lab. The Prime Minister said the purpose of inquiries into Covid-19’s origins had nothing to do with “politics or frankly blame”: “It’s about understanding it so we all on a future occasion can move quickly and can avoid … the absolute carnage that we’ve seen from this pandemic.” Australia’s early push last year to investigate the cause of the pandemic led to a rapid deterioration of our economic relationship with China. In a disproportionate reaction, Beijing imposed heavy trade tariffs on imports of Australian wine, beef, coal, barley, seafood and wood.

The WHO would need to do far better in any subsequent investigation it led. After participating in parts of the Group of Seven summit by video, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged China to co-operate with a fresh investigation into the origins of the coronavirus. Better co-operation and transparency from China were needed, he said. China’s willingness to provide it remains doubtful given its track record. US President Joe Biden has ­ordered a fresh intelligence ­inquiry into the origins of Covid-19. US intelligence has focused on two scenarios: whether the pandemic started through human contact with infected animals or in a laboratory accident. It is time to establish the truth.