JAKARTA - Various studies on the new corona virus have been carried out since its appearance at the end of 2019. Little by little, the details of the characteristics of the virus have begun to be revealed. However, there is one question that remains unanswered or may never be answered: where did this deadly virus come from?
Last week, the United States National Intelligence and Security Agency reported that they were conducting an investigation regarding the source of the spread of the corona virus which may have come from a laboratory, not an animal market in Wuhan, China. The news was first reported by Fox News.
The source in the report believes the "patient zero" COVID-19 is a person who works at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) laboratory. This news was immediately denied by WIV Deputy Director Zhiming Yuan. Quoting NBC News, Yuan said, "there is no way this virus came from us. We have strict regulations and a research code of ethics."
According to several experts quoted by Live Science, the assumption that the new corona virus was genetically engineered is purely a conspiracy. The reason is, to prove the theory requires transparent data and information. And that's certainly not the case in China.
Therefore, as Gerald Keusch, director of the Infectious Disease Laboratory Association of Boston University, said, the most likely scenario is for the coronavirus to emerge naturally.
"Based on the absence of data, the possible scenario is that a virus spread from bats to several species of mammals and spread to humans," said Keusch.
What is WIV doing?
As is known, the £ 30 million laboratory is the most advanced virus testing center in mainland China. The laboratory is located ten miles from the Wuhan "wet market," which is known as the origin of the COVID-19 spread.
WIV was founded in 1956 and then under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS). Through this laboratory, China tested various dangerous viruses that can be transmitted to humans, one of which is SARS.
From 2002 to 2003, China experienced a SARS outbreak that killed more than eight hundred people and infected more than eight thousand. The laboratory then works to test the outbreak. That year they also tested the bird flu virus.
From the photos and videos that are widely distributed on the internet and the official WIV website, it can be seen that some scientists are busy working on something, such as researching viruses.
Of course, when conducting testing, these scientists are required to wear super safe and complete clothing, aka Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) so as not to be exposed to the virus that is being tested.
Meanwhile, to design this laboratory, China took a designer from France. This four-story building is designed completely modern. Currently the laboratory has a biosafety level of P4. This means that this laboratory has super tight security because it also contains super-sophisticated tools for testing viruses.
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