COVID-19 virus was designed in Wuhan lab, claims Chinese virologist

Bhubaneswar: A Chinese virologist has once again stoked debate on the origin of the COVID-19 virus by claiming that the lethal strand of the novel coronavirus was designed in a laboratory in Wuhan, China and she has proof.

Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a scientist who worked with the Hong Kong School of Public Health has recently made the startling revelation on ITV’s Loose Women show. She said that the virus came from a virology lab in Wuhan that was dangerously close to a wet-market there. The British talk show also quoted her saying that the Chinese government knew about the coronavirus spread before it was publicly acknowledged.

Further in the interview, Dr Li went on record saying that “The genome sequence is like a human fingerprint” and she will use the evidence to tell people why the lethal virus came from the lab in China and why it was made in the first place.

“Anyone, even if you have no biology knowledge, will be able to read it, and check and identify and verify it yourself,” she was quoted as saying in an article.

Li narrated how she was asked by her supervisor in the Hong Kong’s School of Public Health on December 31 to investigate a new SARS-like virus but then silenced. Her fear for life later compelled her to flee to the U.S. Now that the situation is getting uglier day by day, the woman scientist decided to step into the light and share her findings on the COVID-19 virus with the world.

Li participated in the Loose Women talk show from an undisclosed location and talked about what obligated her to speak up now, risking her life. She also alleged that the Chinese authorities had deleted all her information and spread rumours about her even before she fled.

However, the Chinese National Health Commission dismissed all of Dr Li’s claims. The University of Hong Kong, as quoted by the ITV’s article said Dr Yan’s statement does not accord with the key facts in their understanding and nor have scientific basis.

This apart, the professor who supervised Li said that she was a post-doctoral fellow in the former’s lab whose research had nothing to do with human-to-human transmission.