Experiment on Mutated Coronavirus Fatality Rate
Academia Criticizes as "Meaningless and Horrific Experiment"
Chinese researchers have claimed to have created a coronavirus variant with a 100% fatality rate. All laboratory mice injected with this variant virus died. The academic community has expressed concerns, urging to "stop immediately" regarding the experiment.
On the 17th (local time), the US media outlet New York Post reported that a joint Chinese research team from Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing PLA General Hospital, and Nanjing University Medical School manufactured a new virus called 'GX_P2V' by modifying the coronavirus. This virus is a variant of the coronavirus first discovered in Malaysian pangolins in 2017.
Researchers at the Wuhan Virus Research Institute. Not directly related to the article content. [Image source=AFP Yonhap News]
The experimental results testing the fatality rate of this virus were published on bioRxiv. In the paper, the research team explained, "This is the first study showing that a coronavirus-related virus can cause 100% mortality in mice," and added, "There is a risk that this virus could be transmitted to humans." Mice infected with the virus experienced rapid weight loss, body deformation, and slowed behavior. As the infection progressed, the mice’s eyes turned completely white. The New York Post described this as "above all, the most chilling aspect."
The international academic community has expressed concerns about the mutated coronavirus experiment. Professor Fran?ois Balloux of the Genetics Institute at University College London criticized it as a "scientifically meaningless and horrific experiment," pointing out that "the biosafety level and biosafety precautions used in the research were not specified."
Professor Balloux specifically referenced the case of the Wuhan Institute in China, suspected as the origin of COVID-19 in 2020. He warned of the risk that managing dangerous pathogens in a closed manner could lead to a massive infectious disease outbreak like the COVID-19 pandemic.
It has not yet been confirmed whether the origin of COVID-19 spread lies in the Wuhan Institute. However, during the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, the institute’s lack of transparent information disclosure raised suspicions and has been criticized for undermining the infectious disease response capabilities of various countries.
Earlier, the US Wall Street Journal (WSJ) pointed out, based on documents obtained by the US House Committee from the Department of Health and Human Services, that the Chinese government delayed announcing COVID-19 between December 28, 2019, and January 11 of the following year. This was just before COVID-19 spread into a pandemic.
According to the documents, Chinese researchers had already acknowledged the lethality of the COVID-19 virus on December 28, 2019, and uploaded its structure to a US-operated database (DB). However, the Chinese government continued to claim that the cause of the outbreak was unknown and only shared the virus sequence with the World Health Organization (WHO) on January 11 of the following year.
However, this recent study is reported to be unrelated to the Wuhan Institute.
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