Covid China: Staff at Wuhan lab admit ‘devastating pandemics can occur’ if viruses escape

Staff at the Chinese laboratory central to questions about the origins of the coronavirus crisis have admitted ‘devastating pandemics can occur’ at facilities housing dangerous viruses. 

In a 2,000-word article published in a scientific journal, two professors at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV)  laid out a series of recommendations to avoid spillovers — despite fears that Covid leaked from their own facility.

The journal entry, described as ‘beyond satire’, advocates for ‘sharing and transparency’ between global biolabs and promotes the ‘exchange of samples and information’. 

But British scientists told MailOnline the calls for openness were ironic because Beijing has stifled independent investigations into the Chinese lab’s ties to Covid. 

Writing in the paper, WIV virologists Professors Han Xia and Zhiming Yuan warned that biological threats, whether natural ‘or accidentally or deliberately released’, can ‘endanger lives and disrupt economies worldwide’. 

‘At one level this paper is a well-written, workmanlike review of biosafety level four labs, and the need for them,’ said Professor David Livermore, a microbiologist at East Anglia University. ‘At another level it is beyond satire.’

The Wuhan lab — located just 10 miles away from the first confirmed Covid case, at the Huanan seafood market — worked extensively on bat coronaviruses and was known to be experimenting on Covid’s closest known relatives.  

‘The authors don’t mention this,’ Professor Livermore added. ‘Indeed they say nothing of the assertion that SARS-CoV-2 escaped from the Wuhan lab. One wonders if the referees or editor raised the topic, or if they thought it “bad manners” to do so.’

The ‘lab leak’ theory was initially dismissed as conspiracy at the start of the pandemic in favour of a natural origin, but the hypothesis gained momentum following a series of revelations and cover-ups. 

Crucial information about the earliest infected patients was wiped from the Wuhan lab’s database in late 2019 and one of its staff vanished after coming down with a mysterious flu-like illness.  

Professor Han and Professor Zhiming declared they had no ‘known competing interests that could have appeared to influence’ their writing. MailOnline has contacted the publisher Elsevier and the Chinese scientists for comment.

But Professor Livermore said: ‘How on earth can Elsevier, who published the paper, allow such nonsense when there are self-evident conflicts?’   

Professor Han Xia (left) and Professor Zhiming Yuan from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, admitted ‘devastating pandemics can occur’ at facilities housing dangerous viruses

Virologist Shi Zheng-li works with her colleague in the P4 lab of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Hubei province – which is at the heart of the lab-leak theory. Nicknamed the ‘Bat Lady’, Zheng-li hunted down dozens of deadly Covid-like viruses in bat caves and studied them at the WIV

Pictured: The Wuhan Institute of Virology, where some believe the virus may have been accidentally leaked from

The lab is one of 59 level four maximum containment labs housing the most deadly viruses in the world, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where some believe the Covid pandemic may have originated

Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the University of Reading, told MailOnline that while the article was probably well intentioned, it means nothing if China continues its reign of censorship.

‘All the things that are advocated for are entirely proper and would be good things to do, they would undoubtedly reduce the chances of outbreaks of infections occurring again,’ he said.

‘However genuine Chinese scientists are in wanting to work towards such aims, without buy-in from their government, they are pointless.

‘International teams of experts have been shown what Chinese authorities want them to see, presumably with a pre-determined set of conclusions in mind. 

‘Unless investigators are allowed to roam freely and examine what they decide they want to see, sharing and transparency will be nothing more than empty words.’ 

Writing in the paper, published in the Journal of Biosafety and Biosecurity, Professor Han and Professor Zhiming admit biological threats, whether natural ‘or accidentally or deliberately released’, can ‘endanger lives and disrupt economies worldwide’.

‘High-containment protective measures should be implemented when handling bio-agents that can cause serious, highly contagious diseases, otherwise devastating pandemics can occur,’ the scientists add.  

The academic paper, published online on December 29 but not due in print until June, claims studying pathogens with the potential to cause pandemics is crucial so tests and drugs can be developed in advance.

Although in no way an admission that Covid leaked from the WIV, the article appears to advocate the use of controversial virus manipulation research that some believe may have played a role in Covid’s origin. 

The WIV was carrying out ‘gain of function’ research on bat coronaviruses as recently as 2017, which involves tinkering with viruses to make them more infectious or deadly to preempt outbreaks.  

Writing in the paper, the Chinese authors said: ‘To safely prepare for and respond to the threat of endemic disease and emerging pathogens, reduce the risk of infection, and lessen the impact of either naturally occurring outbreaks or bioterrorism, the most important thing is to better understand the pathogens with pandemic potential and develop an appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic strategy. 

‘To carry out these activities safely, securely, and responsibly, facilities are necessary to protect researchers from infection while they manipulate the pathogens, and to prevent the pathogens from leaking into the environment.’

The paper makes no mention of the origins of Covid but does highlight that the US and Britain have 28 times as many level four laboratories between them as China.

Professor Han and Profesor Zhiming did, however, acknowledge the severity of the current pandemic.

They wrote: ‘At the beginning of 2020, the Covid pandemic engulfed the world, and remains ongoing. The United Nations Secretary-General described the Covid pandemic as the “worst crisis since World War II”.

‘[The virus] has had an historical impact and provided the biggest test to date of global biosafety systems. At the same time, the world is also facing threats from terrorist groups and their potential use of bioweapons.’  

They claimed such labs ‘enabled Chinese scientists to complete the isolation, identification, and whole-genome sequencing of the causative agent underlying Covid within one week in the early stages of the pandemic’.

This enabled scientists to quickly make vaccines and treatments which target specific parts of the virus, like the spike protein. 

‘These achievements provided a solid basis for the development of diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics, and gave the world time to develop measures designed to control the spread of the virus,’ the pair wrote.

Sir Jeremy Farrar (right), director of the Welcome Trust, told US health chief Dr Anthony Fauci (left) in an email in February 2020 that a ‘likely explanation’ for the virus’ origins is that it evolved in human tissue in a lab

Other respected experts including Professor Mike Farzan, who first discovered how the original SARS virus binds to human cells, also claimed the virus could not have evolved naturally, according to Sir Jeremy’s email

Dr Francis Collins, the US National Institutes of Health director at the time, hit back at the claims immediately, claiming entertaining the theory would allow ‘the voices of conspiracy [to] quickly dominate’

Professor Zhiming also happens to be one of two editors-in-chief of the journal, sharing the title alongside Dr Jianguo Xu — director of the Beijing-based State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, a part of China’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. 

China insisted early and often that the virus did not leak from the Wuhan lab, claiming that crossover to humans must have occurred at a ‘wet market’ that sold live animals.

Perhaps driven by animosity for then-US President Donald Trump, who embraced the lab leak theory early on, mainstream media and academics in the West heaped scorn on the possibility, calling it an unhinged conspiracy theory.

But leaked emails showed that top scientists advising the UK and US Governments expressed concerns about the official narrative privately. 

Sir Jeremy Farrar, an eminent British expert who publicly denounced the theory as a ‘conspiracy’, admitted in a private email in February 2020 that a ‘likely explanation’ was that the virus was man-made.

The then-UK Government adviser said at the time he was ’70:30 or 60:40′ in favour of an accidental release versus natural origin.

In the email, sent to American health chiefs Dr Anthony Fauci and Dr Francis Collins, Sir Jeremy claimed it was possible Covid had been evolved from a SARS-like virus in the lab.

He went on to say that this seemingly benign process may have ‘accidentally created a virus primed for rapid transmission between humans’.

But the British scientist was shut down by his counterparts in the US who warned further debate about the origins of the virus could damage ‘international harmony’.