VILE EXPERIMENTS

Wuhan coronavirus scientists injected bat virus into piglets then fed their infected internal organs to cannibal hogs


A WUHAN lab linked to the coronavirus pandemic took part in experiments with a bat virus which they injected into pigs before the animals were ground up and fed to other hogs.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) were involved in the experiment - along with other tests involving viruses and bats - after receiving $3.7 (£3m) grant from the US Government.

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The Wuhan Institute of Virology is the most secure lab of its kind in China. A researcher is seen on February 23, 2017Credit: AFP - Getty

Covid-19 was originally thought to have come from a so-called “wet market” in the Chinese city.

But there has been mounting speculation linking the disease to the lab, which is one of two in Wuhan, and a possible leak.

Scientists at WIV experimented on bats as part of a project funded by the US National Institutes of Health, which licences it to receive American money, the Mail on Sunday reports.

Research published in April 2018 probed the cross-species transmission of coronaviruses from bats, to other animals, and then to humans.

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The study - titled "'fatal swine acute diarrhoea syndrome caused by an HKU2-related coronavirus of bat origin" - was investigating a bat-related coronavirus outbreak on Chinese pig farms.

Bats were captured in a cave and samples were taken from the creatures.

Scientists then grew the virus in a lab before injecting it into three-day-old piglets.

The sick animals were then killed and their intestines were ground up into a slurry and fed to other piglets.

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In the study, scientists wrote: "This study highlights the importance of identifying coronavirus diversity and distribution in bats to mitigate future outbreaks that could threaten livestock, public health and economic growth."

The £30 million lab is the most advanced laboratory of its type on the Chinese mainland and is based ten miles from the now infamous “wet market”.

Chinese scientists were part of a coronavirus experiment on pigs. Piglets in a cage (stock image)Credit: Alamy

Other research was published in November 2017 in a paper entitled: “Discovery of a rich gene pool of bat SARS-related coronaviruses provides new insights into the origin of SARS coronavirus.”

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The research involved capturing bats and gathering their feces in a cave in Yunnan, in south-western China.

Scientists spent five years monitoring horseshoe bats, which led to the discovery of 11 new coronaviruses.

It concluded: “This work provides new insights into the origin and evolution of SARS-CoV and highlights the necessity of preparedness for future emergence of SARS-like diseases.”

A second bat study , published in March 2018, found 10% of fruit bats are carrying some form of coronavirus - highlighting the “importance of virus surveillance” and the potential of an outbreak.

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VIRUS LEAK?

Scientists at WIV were the first to link the new coronavirus to bats - with it being found to 96 per cent similar to a virus held in the lab.

The institute is classed as "biosafety level 4" - the highest classification of its kind.

Technicians in the lab either have to work in highly sterile cabinets or wear full body safety suits.

BSL-4 labs are the only places in the world where scientists can study diseases that have no cure.

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The state-run People’s Daily newspaper boasted in 2018 that the lab was capable of conducting experiments with “highly pathogenic microorganisms”.

Unverified local claims have suggested workers at the lab became infected after being sprayed with blood, and then carried in infection into the local population.

It emerged last week that British intelligence is considering the possibility that the virus leaked from a lab.

Scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology with a cage including mice in 2017Credit: AFP - Getty
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Senior sources reportedly admitted while the “balance of scientific advice” is that the virus originated naturally - the leak theory is now on the table.

Downing Street has said it “does not recognise” the claims made by the source.

Theories about the origins of coronavirus being linked to a lab in Wuhan have been batted around since the early days out of the outbreak.

Chinese officials have previously attempted to dismiss claims of a leak as "internet rumours".

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The government source’s comments come as pressure ratchets up on China to come clean over the outbreak.

It also emerged WIV was recruiting experts on bats and coronaviruses six days before China admitted it was facing the new virus on December 31.

However, there is absolutely no suggestion the virus is manmade - scientists are confident it originated naturally after studying its genome.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology reportedly carried out experiments on batsCredit: Wuhan Virology Institute
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Following the coronavirus outbreak, China has issued new laws that call for facilities to ensure “biological safety” and improve management of viruses.

A leak from a Chinese lab led to an outbreak of Sars that killed one person and infected nine others in 2004.

The Chinese government admitted the leak was down to negligence and that five officials were punished.

China has been accused of attempting to cover-up the initial outbreak as the virus took hold in the city of Wuhan.

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doctor who first warned about the virus was threatened by police, and then last month Chinese officials suggested the US military may have been responsible for coronavirus.

CHINA CORONAVIRUS TIMELINE

Coronavirus originated in Chinese city of Wuhan before spreading around the world as a pandemic.

  • December 31 - China alerts the World Health Organisation (WHO) to an unknown virus in Wuhan
  • January 7 - WHO offcials identifiy the new virus as its linked to a seafood market
  • January 11 - China announces its first death from the virus
  • January 13 - The first case is reported outside China with a case in Thailand
  • January 23 - Wuhan is placed under qurantine
  • February 9 - Death toll in China surpasses Sars outbreak at 811
  • February 11 - Coronavirus is dubbed Covid-19 by WHO
  • February 18 - China's daily infection figures drops below 2,000 for first time
  • March 11 - WHO declares outbreak a global pandemic
  • March 18 - No new cases reports in China for first time since start of outbreak
  • March 25 - China begins to relax quaratine restrictions on Wuhan and Hubei province
  • March 31- US death toll surpasses China
  • April 1 - China admits to unreported asymptomatic cases
  • April 2- Global case count surpasses one million
  • April 4 - China holds three minutes of silence to mark the dead
  • April 8 - Donald Trump accuses WHO of being "China-centric"
  • April 13 - China records 108 new cases -highest since March 5

Biosecurity researcher Richard Ebright, a professor at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology, said the coronavirus may have come from a leak.

He said: "Bat coronaviruses are collected and studied by laboratories in multiple parts of China — including Wuhan Municipal CDC and Wuhan Institute of Virology.

"Therefore, the first human infection also could have occurred as a laboratory accident."

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China’s top virologist on bat-borne viruses, Shi Zhengli - known as Bat Woman - has sworn on her life that virus did not leak from her lab in Wuhan.

She blamed the virus has being spread by “nature punishing the human race for keeping uncivilized living habits”.

The researcher has told those claiming the virus came from her lab to “shut their stinking mouths”.

But she previously admitted she had “lost sleep” fearing the virus may have leaked from the research facility.

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And it has since been claimed that she was “muzzled” after revealing Covid-19’s genetic composition – crucial for developing tests and vaccines.

Hazmat suits hang ready for use as the Institute of Virology in WuhanCredit: Wuhan Virology Institute

In a letter to the Mail on Sunday, Chinese embassy official Zen Rong said: “Such reports completely disregard the tremendous efforts and huge sacrifice of China and its people, and deny China's significant contribution to global public health and safety.

“China wasted no time in identifying the virus's pathogen, sharing the genetic sequence with the World Health Organisation, taking the most effective, strict and comprehensive measures to contain the spread of the disease, sharing experience with other countries in need, and providing assistance to more than 120 countries, including the UK, and to four international organisations.”

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In a statement, an embassy spokesman added: “There has been no scientific or medical conclusion yet on the origin of Covid-19, as relevant tracing work is still underway.

“The WHO has made repeated statements that what the world is experiencing now is a global phenomenon, the source is undetermined, the focus should be on containment and any stigmatizing language referring to certain places must be avoided.”

In a statement, WIV said the conspiracy reports had “received close attention from all walks of life” and “caused great harm to our research staff on the front line of scientific research” back in February

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Lab chiefs said staff had been working around the clock since the end of 2019 to trace the source of the coronavirus and improve detection rates - adding the theories "seriously interfered" with their efforts.

And despite the speculation, the World Health Organisation praised China and President Xi Jinping for their handling of Covid-19 back in February.

WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “The logic doesn’t support the idea [of a cover up]. It’s wrong to jump to conclusions.”

He added: "Nobody knows for sure if they were hiding [anything]."

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More than 2million people have now been infected worldwide as the death toll nears 120,000.

Scientists are still scrambling to trace the source of the virus and to fully understand the infection

It emerged today more than 100 people in South Korea have tested positive for the bug after being given the all-clear - sparking fears of "reactivation".

Meanwhile, Britain is expected to enter a further three weeks of lockdown as the death-toll surpassed 11,00.

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