Wuhan Institute of Virology scientists the first to be sickened by Covid-19
The first people to be sickened by SARS-CoV-2 were scientists toying with the virus at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a new investigation has revealed.
Three Wuhan scientists toying with the closest relatives of SARS-CoV-2 were the first to contract Covid-19, as evidence the virus came from a lab leak rather than a live animal trade market grows.
An investigation by journalists Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi published on the Substack newsletter Public reported that Wuhan Institute of Virology researchers Ben Hu, Ping Yu and Yan Zhu were identified as “patients zero” of the virus by US government sources.
They were involved in “gain-of-function” research on SARS-like coronaviruses.
The investigation confirms the three WIV members were directly in the lab and were involved in collecting and experimenting with viruses and fell sick in late 2019. Mr Hu, who led WIV’s gain-of-function research, is believed to be a close contact of Shi Zhengli, the Chinese virologist who focuses on coronaviruses of bat origin.
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard molecular biologist Alina Chan told Public and Racket Mr Hu was “essentially the next Shi Zhengli”.
“He was her star pupil,” she said. “He had been making chimeric SARS-like viruses and testing these in humanised 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.”
Mr Hu and Ms Yu were both involved in co-authoring a paper with Ms Zhengli in 2019.
The new information that has emerged has also drawn attention to a video aired by Chinese state-run television showing Mr Hu supervising another lab worker without protective gear.
The lab worker was seen handling specimens, with the video also revealing both scientists looking for bat viruses with minimal protection.
“If they were worried about being infected in the field, they would need full body suits with no gaps,” Ms Chan told the investigation.
Former member of the World Health Organisation’s expert advisory committee on human genome editing Jaime Metzl entertained the possibility of Covid-19 originating from a research-related cause. “It’s a game changer if it can be proven that Hu got sick with Covid-19 before anyone else,” he told the investigation. “That would be the smoking gun. Hu was the lead hands-on researcher in Shi’s lab.”
The findings come as governments and agencies continue to probe further into the origins of Covid-19, with the most accepted cause being the virus was transmitted at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan.
“The virus, now officially named SARS-CoV-2, is thought to have originated in a seafood market and is likely to have come from bats before being transmitted to humans from an intermediate animal,” the Australian government’s Department of Health fact sheet outlines.
The US efforts have included a bill signed by President Joe Biden in March that calls for the release of the names and roles of the infected researchers at the Wuhan lab, as well as their symptoms, date of symptoms and their involvement in Covid research.
A previously classified report is expected to be released next week by the Directorate of National Intelligence which could confirm the scientists who potentially first fell sick by Covid-19.
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