China: Official at Wuhan laboratory breaks silence to deny coronavirus originated there

China: Official at Wuhan laboratory breaks silence to deny coronavirus originated there A laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan, locat...

China: Official at Wuhan laboratory breaks silence to deny coronavirus originated there

A laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan, located just miles away from the wet market where officials said the novel coronavirus first emerged, has denied accusations the disease originated at the institute before it spread and infected millions worldwide.

Yuan Zhiming, vice director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CGTN, dismissed the claims as a “conspiracy theory” designed to “confuse” people. Scientists at the facility do research on coronaviruses that originate in bats, which has prompted speculation regarding the Wuhan lab in recent weeks.

His comments mark the first time anyone from the Institute has discussed the global outbreak since it first emerged in China at the end of last year.

“As people who carry out viral study, we clearly know what kind of research is going on in the institute and how the institute manages viruses and samples. As we said early on, there is no way this virus came from us,” Yuan said.

Yuan, a microbiology and biotechnology expert who trained in France, Denmark and the United States, also noted that a man-made coronavirus resembling the one ripping across the globe is beyond the scope of human intelligence.

The Chinese government has long denied that the lab was to blame and almost immediately pointed to a wet market in the city of Wuhan as the virus source. But there have been several questions raised about that theory since the illness has killed more than 156,000 people worldwide.

In recent weeks, Pesident Trump has placed blame on China and its lack of transparency at the start of the outbreak. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also seemed to acknowledge theories about the lab in Wuhan.

“We know there is the Wuhan Institute of Virology a couple miles away from where the wet market was,” Pompeo told Fox News. "There is still lots to learn. The United States government is working diligently to figure it out.”

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