Two European scientists claim coronavirus made in Wuhan lab: Report

Two European scientists have claimed that the pandemic-causing SARS-CoV-2 was artificially created in a laboratory by Chinese scientists, who later covered their tracks by reverse engineering virus to give it an appearance of a natural pathogen.

In a 22-page research paper, British professor Angus Dalgleish and Norwegian scientist Birger Sorensen said they found "unique fingerprints" in Covid-19 samples that could only come from “manipulation in a laboratory”, according to an exclusive report in the UK newspaper Daily Mail.

DH has no independent corroboration of the Daily Mail report. The research paper is not available in the public domain as it is yet to be published. It is expected to appear in the Quarterly Review of Biophysics Discovery.

The study alleged “deliberate destruction, concealment or containment” of data at Chinese labs and notes silencing and disappearance of scientists in China who spoke out about such activities.

Read | What we know about the origins of Covid-19

Dalgleish and Sorensen argued that the Covid-19 virus had “no natural ancestor” and was crafted by the Chinese scientists working on a “Gain of Function” project in a Wuhan laboratory. Gain of function projects, which involve tweaking a natural virus to make them more infectious, was outlawed by US president Barack Obama.

In the paper, the scientists wrote that a natural virus pandemic would be expected to mutate gradually and become infectious but less pathogenic, which did not happen in the case of Covid-19. They claimed after the pandemic began, Chinese scientists took samples of the Covid-19 virus and 'retro-engineered' it, making it appear as if it had evolved naturally.

The sensational claim by the European duo comes at a time when global demand for a repeat investigation into the origin of SARS-CoV-2 is gaining ground. The first such probe by the World Health Organisation remained inconclusive.

Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden also asked the intelligence community to redouble their efforts to probe the virus’s origin and sought a report within 90 days.

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