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Coronavirus from China's laboratory? Journalist with depressing details from Wuhan - US intelligence agency comments

2020-04-30T16:47:54.141Z


Corona: In his book, the French journalist Antoine Izambard uncovers the methods of the Chinese government in a laboratory. 


Corona: In his book, the French journalist Antoine Izambard uncovers the methods of the Chinese government in a laboratory. 

  • French journalist Antoine Izambard describes the lack of transparency in China in his book .
  • France helped China set up the research laboratories , but then the Chinese cut themselves off.
  • China should therefore only look for the know-how, but leaves its partners in the dark about its intentions .

18:42:  The US intelligence investigate whether the coronavirus pandemic in China has begun through human contact with infected animals or from an accident in a research laboratory. All of the relevant findings would be "thoroughly checked," the office of the US intelligence coordinator said on Thursday. However, like most scientists, the secret services assumed that the novel corona virus was a natural and not man-made or manipulated pathogen, it said.

In the US , there has recently been repeated speculation that the Sars-CoV-2 virus was accidentally released by a laboratory worker in Wuhan. In the metropolis of millions, the pandemic had started shortly before the turn of the year. According to media reports, US President Donald Trump is said to have asked the secret services for a meticulous investigation of the laboratory accident theory. However, most scientists assume that the pathogen in China jumped from infected animals to humans and then spread quickly.

Update of April 30, 4:55 p.m .:  In Southeast Asia, the situation in many countries is confusing when it comes to corona containment . But there is now news from Thailand that points to a positive development. Due to the falling number of new infections, some restrictions will be relaxed as of next Sunday. Markets, some shops and restaurants, hairdressers and parks are allowed to reopen across the country. Shopping centers should remain closed.

Corona: Thailand with first easing - shops, restaurants and hairdressers open

However, two important rules will continue to apply in the Kingdom: the ban on alcohol sales and the curfew at night will initially continue to be enforced. Government officials Taweesin Visanuyothin announced further easing on Thursday. However, the number of infections in Thailand should not continue to rise.

For the fourth day in a row, fewer than ten daily new infections with the coronavirus * had been reported. For comparison: in March more than 100 new cases were registered every day. According to the authorities, 2954 people were tested positive for the Sars-CoV-2 pathogen. According to the government, 54 people died as a result of the infection. The state of emergency continues until May 31st, furthermore hygiene requirements and distance rules apply to the areas affected by the relaxation.

Coronavirus from China's laboratory? Journalist with depressing details from Wuhan

First report from April 30th:

Paris - French journalist  Antoine Izambard describes Sino-French relations in his book, questioning the methods used by the Chinese government. The author visited Wuhan and confirms China's lack of transparency with his experience report, increasing skepticism about the role of world power in the pandemic.

Corona: China's dubious role in the pandemic - French expertise helped world power

In February Izambard was at the Chinese Corona * epicenter Wuhan to get an impression of the high-tech research laboratory that is affiliated with the Institute of Virology. In his book "The Dangerous Liaisons", Izambard deals with the relationship between China and France, since the Europeans have been helping with research into infections since the 2003 Sars pandemic . However , the work of the research institutes is obviously not really clear and transparent , as the journalist found during his research. 

According to Izambard, the visited research laboratory in Wuhan was arranged like a kind of bunker , with an earthquake-proof floor and a size of 3000 square meters. Portraits of French politicians are said to hang on the walls, including the former interior minister  Bernard Cazeneuve , who inaugurated the laboratory. The photo of the French entrepreneur Alain Merieux , who earned three billion euros in medical research, also hangs there.

Corona pandemic: “The Chinese only wanted them

The laboratory was built under French supervision . The French should provide their knowledge, but quickly lost to the control . Izambard documented this in his book. Due to bad experiences during a laboratory visit in northern China, the French wanted to contractually regulate joint research * in Wuhan . However, cooperation with the Chinese was hardly possible . At the end of the process, which lasted more than ten years, billionaire Merieux even got out and told French radio station France Inter, "I will not reveal a state secret if I reveal that there has not been a single meeting of the Franco-Chinese committee on infectious diseases since 2016.

"The French have been somewhat chilled by the lack of transparency of the Chinese," says Antoine Izambard, author of the book Dangerous Liaisons. "Their explanations remained opaque on the use they could make of these P3s .... This raised a lot of fears." # P4https: //t.co/uW4aQsDzRD

- Rosalyn Tien (@RosalynTien) April 25, 2020

"The Chinese only wanted to acquire the technology , but did not want to be looked at in the cards, " Izambard describes this type of partnership . France had previously delivered four level three laboratories to China, but nothing is known about their whereabouts. Scenes of secrecy are said to have also occurred in Wuhan. An agreed posting of 50 French scientists was unsuccessful, and there was no agreed further training for the Chinese researchers. France urged colleagues in Wuhan to cooperate with the World Health Organization (WHO). But this never happened , because the laboratory was never approved by the WHO .

Corona: Journalist visits research laboratory - "Not a single researcher meets"  

One thing surprised him when he personally visited the laboratory. "I have n't met a single researcher , nor have I seen a single laboratory animal," he told the world on Sunday . You must have shown him a cleaned area. The research laboratory is one of the highest safety class four , of which only around 30 exist worldwide. Here, life-threatening pathogens such as Ebola, H5N1, and also corona viruses * are used. Errors here can have serious consequences .

The Institute for Virology in Wuhan has also come into focus when it comes to the question of virus origin *. The thesis that the pathogen is said to have escaped after a laboratory accident is being propagated worldwide, particularly by the United States . According to President Donald Trump *, his secret services should follow the relevant instructions. China denies continue the allegations of the Americans. Izambard considers an accident to be  "not very plausible" because there is no evidence.

However, due to the neighboring disease control agency, this cannot be ruled out. As is well known, the laboratory is not far from the Huanan market , where the coronavirus * initially appeared as zoonosis *.

L'histoire secrète du laboratoire P4 de Wuhan vendu par la France à la Chine https://t.co/r61L6WmVRl via @Challenges

- Antoine Izambard (@a_izambard) April 30, 2020

* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.

Rubric list picture: © AFP / STR

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-04-30

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