US officials warned two years ago that safety lapses during the study of bats at a Wuhan laboratory could lead to a coronavirus outbreak.

Secret cables from American embassy officials – following 2018 visits to a lab in the Chinese city now at the centre of the world pandemic – were obtained by the Washington Post.

11 A researcher is seen at the Wuhan Institute of Virology on February 23, 2017 Credit: AFP - Getty

11 Workers at the Wuhan reportedly carried out experiments on bats – with U.S. officials warning of fears of a possible outbreak two years ago Credit: AFP - Getty

They revealed fears that inadequate safety precautions by those conducting risky studies on coronaviruses from bats could result in a deadly new strain of the disease.

One US official told the Washington Post: “The cable was a warning shot. They were begging people to pay attention to what was going on.”

The current coronavirus pandemic is thought to have begun at a ‘wet market’ – where exotic animals are bought and eaten – in Wuhan, central China.

But there have also been claims that the virus could have escaped from a lab in the city.

The cables reveal that in January 2018, the US Embassy in Beijing took the unusual step of repeatedly sending science diplomats to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).

In 2015, the WIV had become China’s first laboratory to achieve the highest level of international bioresearch safety.

The US delegation was led by Jamison Fouss, the consul general in Wuhan, and Rick Switzer, the embassy’s counselor of environment, science, technology and health.

What the American officials learned concerned them so much that they dispatched two diplomatic cables - categorised as ‘Sensitive But Unclassified’ - back to Washington DC.

11 Workers are seen in full protective gear inside the Wuhan lab Credit: AFP - Getty

11 Chinese scientists were part of a coronavirus experiment on pigs. Piglets in a cage (stock image) Credit: Alamy

11 Workers stand together in full protective suits at the Wuhan lab Credit: Wuhan Virology Institute

The first cable warned that the lab’s work on bat coronaviruses and their potential human transmission represented a risk of a new SARS-like pandemic.

It said: “During interactions with scientists at the WIV laboratory, they noted the new lab has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory.”

The Chinese researchers at WIV were receiving help from the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch and other US organisations.

But the cables argued that the US should give the Wuhan lab further support - mainly because its research on bat coronaviruses was important but also dangerous.

American visitors met with Shi Zhengli, the head of the research project, who had been publishing studies related to bat coronaviruses for many years.

In 2017 they published research showing that horseshoe bats they collected from a cave in Yunnan province were very likely from the same population that spawned the 2003 SARS virus.

The US cable stated: “Most importantly the researchers also showed that various SARS-like coronaviruses can interact with ACE2, the human receptor identified for SARS-coronavirus.

11 Medical staff take care of a patient at Leishenshan hospital in Wuhan on April 14, 2020 Credit: Rex Features

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“This finding strongly suggests that SARS-like coronaviruses from bats can be transmitted to humans to cause SARS-like diseases.

“From a public health perspective, this makes the continued surveillance of SARS-like coronaviruses in bats and study of the animal-human interface critical to future emerging coronavirus outbreak prediction and prevention.”

The research was designed to prevent the next SARS-like pandemic by anticipating how it might emerge, but even by 2015 scientists questioned whether Shi’s team was taking unnecessary risks.

Xiao Qiang, a research scientist from the University of California, told the Washington Post: “The cable tells us that there have long been concerns about the possibility of the threat to public health that came from this lab’s research, if it was not being adequately conducted and protected.”

There are similar concerns about a SECOND laboratory in the Chinese city – the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control and Prevention lab.

Sources familiar with the cables said they were meant to sound an alarm about safety concerns at the WIV lab, especially in regards to its work with bat coronaviruses.

11 Scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology with a cage including mice in 2017 Credit: AFP - Getty

11 Credit: AFP - Getty

The embassy officials were calling for more support for the lab – but no extra assistance was provided by the US government.

American officials have long suspected either the WIV or the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control and Prevention lab was the source of the current coronavirus outbreak.

Another official added yesterday: “The idea that is was just a totally natural occurrence is circumstantial. The evidence it leaked from the lab is circumstantial.

“Right now, the ledger on the side of it leaking from the lab is packed with bullet points and there’s almost nothing on the other side.”

The Chinese government has put a total lockdown on information related to the virus origins.

Beijing has yet to provide samples of the coronavirus collected from the earliest cases.

11 Hazmat suits hang ready for use as the Institute of Virology in Wuhan Credit: Wuhan Virology Institute

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The Shanghai lab that published the novel coronavirus genome on January 11 was quickly shut down by authorities for “rectification”.

Several of the doctors and journalists who reported on the spread early on have disappeared.

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