Virus lab leak timeline

March 7, 2020
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30418-9/fulltextShow more

A group that has been involved in China at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which some saw as a conflict of interest

The rapid, open, and transparent sharing of data on this outbreak is now being threatened by rumours and misinformation around its origins.

We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.

17th March, 2020, Patrick Vallance shuts down debate

UK experts helped shut down Covid lab leak theory

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/23/uk-experts-helped-shut-covid-lab-leak-theory-weeks-told-might/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/23/uk-experts-helped-shut-covid-lab-leak-theory-weeks-told-might/

https://www.nature.com/articles/S41591-020-0820-9

Natural spillover event caused the pandemic,

was hugely instrumental in stifling debate into the origins of the virus.

By the time the paper was published,

all reference to biosecurity problems in Wuhan had been removed

April 18, 2020, President Trump

a lot of people are looking into the possibility of a lab leak, the theory seems to make sense

Dr. Anthony Fauci

the virus’ mutations are consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.

4th June, 2020, Sir Richard Dearlove, former head, MI6

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/coronavirus-chinese-laboratory-wuhan-mi6-richard-dearlove-conspiracy-theories-a9547851.html

Seen a scientific report by a British-Norwegian team indicating that the virus was man-made

January 15, 2021

https://2017-2021.state.gov/fact-sheet-activity-at-the-wuhan-institute-of-virology/index.html

State Department fact sheet

Some researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology,

became sick in fall 2019, three researchers were hospitalized before the first coronavirus case was reported.

February 9, 2021 World Health Organization team

the possibility that the virus escaped from a lab in Wuhan extremely unlikely

February 9, 2021

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02596-2

Close relative of SARS-CoV-2 found in bats in Thailand, China and Laos

27th May, 2021, Facebook ends ban on posts claiming Covid is man made

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/26/joe-biden-demands-follow-up-investigation-covid-origins-wuhan/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTxQCOj1W8g

Had been blocking what it called harmful misinformation

Three scientists from Wuhan Institute of Virology, hospitalised in November 2019, symptoms consistent with Covid.

May 26, 2021, President Biden

Orders an intelligence review

June 3, 2021, Dr. Fauci

Change of tune?

the most likely origin is from an animal species to a human but I keep an absolutely open mind that there may be other origins

it could have been a lab leak

July 20, 2021

Dr. Fauci and Sen. Rand Paul

Gain of function?

National Institutes of Health

https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-we-are/nih-director/statements/statement-misinformation-about-sars-cov-2-origins

Viruses studied with federal funding in China were genetically far distant from SARS-CoV-2.

Entire Wuhan Institute virus database taken offline on 12 September 2019

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2022-000608_EN.html

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349073738_An_investigation_into_the_WIV_databases_that_were_taken_offline

On 12 September 2019 the Wuhan Institute of Virology,

took its entire virus database offline

The renewed publication of this virus database would be an important step towards clarifying the origin of the current ‘corona pandemic’.

October 27, 2022, Senate Republicans

https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/report_an_analysis_of_the_origins_of_covid-19_102722.pdf

most likely

research-related incident at a lab in China

February 26, 2023

The Wall Street Journal and New York Times report the Department of Energy

IC remains divided on the most likely origin of COVID-19

The IC judges they will be unable to provide a more definitive explanation for the origin of COVID-19,

unless new information allows them to determine the specific pathway for initial natural contact with an animal,

or to determine that a laboratory in Wuhan was handling SARS- CoV-2 or a close progenitor virus before COVID-19 emerged.

The IC—and the global scientific community—lacks clinical samples or a complete understanding of epidemiological data from the earliest COVID-19 cases.

If we obtain information on the earliest cases that identified a location of interest or occupational exposure, it may alter our evaluation of hypotheses.

China’s cooperation most likely would be needed to reach a conclusive assessment of the origins of COVID-19.