Wuhan Virus Institute: "'COVID-19' Lab Leak Claim is Fake News"

Wuhan Institute of Virology, China / Photo by Weibo screen capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ga-yeon] There has been a claim that the origin of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), which is spreading worldwide, might be a laboratory located in Wuhan rather than the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China. The laboratory has denied this claim, stating it is groundless.

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the 17th (local time) that the Wuhan Institute of Virology officially responded to the suspicion that it was the origin of COVID-19.

According to the report, the institute issued a statement on the 16th, denying the claim by saying, "No staff members at the institute have been infected."

The institute stated, "There is fake news circulating claiming that Huang Yanling is the first COVID-19 infected person," and added, "So far, there have been no patients from our institute."

Regarding the rumor that "the first COVID-19 infected person is Huang Yanling, a graduate student affiliated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology," the institute denied it, saying, "Huang Yanling was formerly affiliated with the institute but left Hubei Province in 2015."

On the 31st of last month, four symptomatic individuals among the overseas Koreans around Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, the origin of the novel coronavirus infection, were transferred to the isolation facility at Chung-Ang University Hospital after returning on a chartered flight. A notice is posted at the hospital entrance. Photo by Yonhap News

Earlier on the 16th, according to foreign media such as the UK's Daily Mirror and Hong Kong's Ming Pao, researchers Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao from Huazhong University of Science and Technology recently posted a report titled "Possible Origin of the Novel Coronavirus" on the information-sharing site ResearchGate.

The researchers claimed that COVID-19 might have leaked from the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention (WHCDC) or the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

According to the report, the WHCDC is located near the Huanan Seafood Market, which Chinese authorities had identified as the virus's origin. It is also reported that the hospital where medical staff in Wuhan were first infected in clusters is located nearby.

The researchers claimed that the WHCDC captured over 600 bats and various other animals from Hubei and Zhejiang provinces for research purposes.

They added, "During this process, researchers were sometimes attacked by bats or exposed to their excrement," and "After bats urinated on them, they underwent a total of 28 days of self-quarantine."

However, they also noted, "While it is possible that the virus leaked from the (laboratory) and contaminated some of the initial patients, definitive evidence is needed in future studies."

Currently, the paper is reported to be unavailable on ResearchGate.