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Published: 17:42, July 23, 2021 | Updated: 17:43, July 23, 2021
Calls intensify for US germ lab probe
By Mo Jingxi and Wang Xiaoyu
Published:17:42, July 23, 2021 Updated:17:43, July 23, 2021 By Mo Jingxi and Wang Xiaoyu

A file photo shows an entrance to the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, at Fort Detrick, Maryland. (PHOTO / AFP)

Investigation into the United States military lab at Fort Detrick is the call of all the people around the world, including the Chinese, which must be answered by the US in terms of tracing the origin of the coronavirus, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on July 21.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian demanded that Washington show transparency and conduct a thorough investigation into the Fort Detrick facility and other biological labs overseas over the origins of COVID-19, in response to appeals from people in China and around the world.

As of the afternoon on July 21, an open letter published on July 17 asking the World Health Organization to probe Fort Detrick had garnered nearly 5 million signatures from Chinese netizens.

“The soaring number reflects the Chinese people’s demands and anger at some people in the US who manipulate the origin-tracing issue for political reasons,” Zhao said at a regular news briefing in Beijing.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a “cease and desist order” in July 2019 to halt research at Fort Detrick that involved dangerous organisms like the Ebola virus. The same month, a “respiratory outbreak” of unknown cause saw more than 60 residents at a Northern Virginia retirement community become ill, and a large-scale EVALI — a lung disease — outbreak occurred in the state of Wisconsin.

Later that year, Maryland, where Fort Detrick is based, witnessed a doubling of the number of residents who developed a respiratory illness related to vaping.

But the CDC never released information about the shutdown of the lab’s deadly germ research operations, citing “national security reasons”.

“An investigation into Fort Detrick is long overdue, but the US has not done it yet, so the mystery remains unsolved,” Zhao said, adding that it is a question the US must answer regarding the tracing of the origins of COVID-19.

Noting that Fort Detrick still stores a large number of viruses that seriously threaten human lives, as reported by US media, Zhao asked when the US would publicly clarify the issue.

The US should show transparency, take concrete measures to thoroughly investigate the origin of the epidemic in the country, find out reasons for its poor COVID-19 response and hold accountable those who are responsible, thoroughly investigate Fort Detrick and the 200-plus US biological laboratories overseas, he said.

Washington remains silent whenever Fort Detrick is mentioned, but seeks to stigmatize and demonize China under the pretext of origin-tracing, he said.

Answering a question about speculation by some US officials and media that three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized with COVID-19 in November 2019, Zhao said if the US was so sure of its claim, it should prove it by revealing the names and test reports of the researchers concerned.

“I can tell you that the US cannot provide any evidence, because it is lying,” Zhao said.

The spokesperson went on with more questions:

  • According to the US National Institutes of Health website, research has shown that evidence of infection in five US states appeared back in December 2019. How does the US respond to this?

  • In Florida, 171 people with no travel history to China had coronavirus symptoms earlier than the state’s first reported case. How does the US account for this?

  • The mayor of Belleville, New Jersey, got infected in November 2019, over two months earlier than the first confirmed case in the US. How does the US explain this?

  • The EVALI outbreaks that swept through several US states in July 2019 cause pulmonary symptoms highly similar to those of COVID-19. Can the US offer some clarifications?

A scientific matter

In sharp contrast to the political manipulation, rejection of science, and distortion of facts by certain countries over COVID-19 origin-tracing work, an increasing number of countries are voicing overwhelming support for justice.

At least 55 countries have endorsed the letter sent to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus opposing the politicization of the study of COVID-19 origin, as of July 21.

According to spokesman Zhao, many countries stressed at a WHO member states briefing “that tracing the origins of the virus is a scientific matter and should not be politicized and the joint WHO-China study report published by WHO should be upheld”.

“This fully reflects where justice lies and what the shared aspiration of the international community is,” Zhao said, adding that “it fully demonstrates that those who uphold impartiality and objectivity, and champion fairness and justice are in the majority.”

He said that relevant parties should stop political manipulation of origin-tracing, stop using it as an excuse to shift blame, and stop deliberately sabotaging international cooperation on the study of the origins of the virus.

China urged relevant parties to adopt a truly responsible and scientific attitude, and work with the international community to make due contributions to defeating the virus and protecting people’s health and wellbeing, Zhao said.

The common enemy

On July 15, permanent representatives of 48 countries to the United Nations Office at Geneva voiced their support to advance the study of origins of SARS-CoV-2 globally and opposed the politicization of the origin-tracing.

The diplomats highlighted that COVID-19 is a common enemy of mankind, and it can only be defeated by the solidarity and cooperation of the international community.

Cooperation on the study of origins of the SARS-CoV-2 is an important aspect of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, they said. “As provided in the resolution WHA 73.1 entitled COVID-19 response, the purpose of the origin-tracing is to identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population, including the possible role of intermediate hosts.”

The diplomats stressed that the study of origins is “a matter of science, and should be conducted around the world by scientists”.

“Origin-tracing shall not be politicized,” they said. “Otherwise the global cooperation on the study of origins will be hindered, and the global anti-pandemic efforts will be jeopardized.”

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease, has so far presented formidable obstacles to scientists struggling to pin down its origin.

Liu Peipei, a virologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said during an earlier briefing that “patient zero” of COVID-19, as well as other of the earliest infections, might have been asymptomatic and there may be no medical records related to that person. Liu had called on global researchers to proactively search for early cases around the world.

Driven by politics

However, scientists and research institutions around the world are under increasing pressure for denouncing the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was leaked from a lab, according to a recent article published in Hong Kong news website min.news.

Additionally, Peter Daszak, a British zoologist and member of the World Health Organization mission team to Wuhan, was removed from the COVID-19 commission looking into the origins of the pandemic. Edward Holmes, an evolutionary biologist and professor at the University of Sydney, also became a target of unrelenting online attacks.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to the US president, has faced criticism and calls to resign. 

On July 20 in a latest clash over the origins of the virus that caused the global pandemic, the top infectious disease expert confronted Kentucky GOP Senator Rand Paul in testimony on Capitol Hill.

“Senator Paul, you do not know what you’re talking about, quite frankly,” Fauci said. “And I want to say that officially. You do not know what you’re talking about.” 

He added, “If anybody is lying here, senator, it is you.”

So far in the US, little new evidence has emerged in the ongoing investigation into the origins of COVID-19 by the US government, United News of Bangladesh has recently reported, citing a US media story.

Matthew Kavanagh, director of the Global Health Policy & Politics Initiative at Georgetown University, told Rolling Stone, a US magazine, earlier this month that US President Joe Biden’s use of the intelligence community and not health officials to conduct a review into the origins of the coronavirus may have already politicized the matter.

“This tells us that this is a political and an intelligence story: not a story mostly about science,” Kavanagh said. “And so we should understand the picture in that sense, and not be naive about it. We’re in a place where politics is driving people’s scientific understanding in a dangerous way.”

Xinhua contributed to this report.

Contact the writers at mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn


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