‘Evidence shows Wuhan institute created the virus’

Staff queue up to test for Covid-19 at a gym in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province. Pic/AFP

Amidst the World Health Organization (WHO) calling for China to allow for the phase two probe into the origin of Covid-19, a top Texas Republican on the House of Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, on August 1 said it had obtained new evidence that China's Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) created the virus and dismissed the claim that it originated from bats.

According to the new evidence, scientists at the WIV have been able to genetically modify Coronaviruses without leaving a trace of that modification since 2005.

McCaul underlined it as the "greatest cover-up of all time" and has caused the deaths of more than four million people around the world, and people must be held responsible.

The report claimed that the researchers at WIV were also able to successfully modify coronaviruses without leaving a trace as early as 2016. Therefore, it is no longer appropriate for anyone to dismiss the notion that this virus could have been genetically modified before it leaked from WIV, he added. He also said that the WIV took their virus database offline on September 12, 2019.

S Korea extends tough social distancing rules

South Korea on Friday announced its decision to extend the toughest social-distancing rules in the capital area for two more weeks amid the continued resurgence of new Covid-19 cases and deaths.

Australia's 16 million people under lockdown

As Sydney's Covid-19 outbreak continues to escalate, breaches into neighbouring states and regions have forced some 16 million people along Australia's densely populated eastern coast into lockdown. The state of Victoria and some regional areas in New South Wales are the latest ones joining the ongoing lockdown.

6,58,630
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

20,11,72,398
Total no. of cases worldwide

42,72,432
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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