Coronavirus: China releases rare footage of Wuhan virology laboratory

news.com.au

The Wuhan Institute of Virology, which keeps more than 1500 strains of deadly viruses, has drawn global controversy amid claims the novel coronavirus was leaked from the facility.

Some people, including US officials, have suggested the virus was leaked from the establishment, which has China's only lab with the highest biosafety level of P4.

A video released by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV in February gives a glimpse into the institute, showing virologists in spacesuit-like protective gear working in the P4 lab in the city of Wuhan, China’s COVID-19 epicentre.

The lab, which is worth an estimated $A66.6 million, is affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It officially opened in 2018.

In the clip, a researcher named Zhang Huajun shows how he and his colleague put on two layers of protective suits and pass five airtight chambers before entering the core part of the lab.

Mr Zhang said the lab was leak-proof due to its design, which was in such a way that air could only flow into the lab from the outside, not the other way around.

The lab is said to have three testing rooms, two animal storage rooms, one virus bank and an animal-dissection room. Up to 24 scientists can work there simultaneously.

Last week, US President Donald Trump said Washington was investigating if the coronavirus first crossed to humans by accident during experiments with bats at the lab.

China has insisted the World Health Organisation (WHO) has found no evidence the novel coronavirus was man-made, with the lab’s deputy head saying there was “no way” that COVID-19 originated there.



Dr Yuan Zhiming, the deputy head of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, hit back at the accusations in an interview with state media over the weekend.

“There's no way this virus came from us,” he told CGTN, the English-language arm of CCTV.

“I know it’s impossible,” he added.

He said that a man-made coronavirus would be beyond human intelligence, rejecting claims the virus was artificially engineered.

Dr Yuan suggested the theories were based on the institute and the P4 lab being in Wuhan, so “people can't help but make associations which I think is understandable”.

“They have no evidence or knowledge. This is entirely based on speculation,” he said of the US. “Part of the purpose is to confuse people, to interfere with our entire epidemic activities or our scientific activities.”

The first infections with the coronavirus were linked with an animal market in Wuhan. Experts believe the virus comes from bats and might also have been spread via another host animal.

China’s denial came as world governments debate how and when to ease lockdowns that have kept more than half of humanity — 4.5 billion people — confined to their homes and crippled the global economy.

“Was it a mistake that got out of control or was it done deliberately?” Mr Trump said over the weekend, questioning the origins of the highly contagious disease that first emerged in Wuhan in December.

“If they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be consequences.”

The virus was probably first transmitted to humans at a Wuhan market where exotic animals were slaughtered, according to Chinese scientists.

But conspiracy theories that the virus came from a maximum-security virology lab have been brought into the mainstream by US government officials.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said an investigation was under way into how the virus “got out into the world”.

Australia has called for an independent investigation into the global response to the pandemic, including the WHO’s handling of the crisis.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the country would “insist” on a review that would probe, in part, China’s response to the outbreak.

Mr Trump has already withdrawn US funding to the WHO, accusing it of “severely mismanaging and covering up” the spread of the virus.

The US has the highest caseload of any country, with more than 735,000 confirmed infections and more than 39,000 deaths.

– with wires