Top Wuhan virologist had ties with military scientists

US representatives during a Republican-led forum on the origins of the Covid-19 virus at the US Capitol on June 29. The forum examined the theory that the coronavirus came from a lab in Wuhan. Pic/AFP

A top Chinese Virologist from Wuhan Institute of Virology has ties to military scientists of China who had been helping her in coronavirus research.

One of these two military scientists has been listed as deceased. In March, Dr Shi Zhengli, a Wuhan-based virologist who was accused of performing dangerous experiments with bat coronaviruses, denied claims that Wuhan Institute conducted studies with the military but several pieces of evidence were found that proved Dr Shi's links with the military scientists, Fox News reported citing US MEDIA.

Dr Shi, along with military scientist Ton Yigang, researched on coronavirus back in 2018. Later Shi also worked with another military scientist Zhou Yusen in 2019. Zhou was declared dead in the footnote of an article published in 2020 but the reason for his death is still unknown.

Amid the resurgence of lab leak theory of Covid-19, a new report has revealed that China deleted early coronavirus data in a possible bid to conceal its origins -- hence impeding the World Health Organization's (WHO) investigation of the virus.

Earlier, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) investigation had found that China resisted international pressure for a probe that it saw as an attempt to assign blame. China delayed the probe for months, secured veto rights over participants and insisted its scope cover other countries as well.

Moreover, the WHO-led team that traveled to China in early 2021 to investigate the origins of the virus struggled to get a clear picture of what research China was conducting beforehand, faced constraints during its visit and had little power to conduct thorough, impartial research without the blessing of the Chinese government.

The team had initially declared that a lab accident was an extremely unlikely cause of the pandemic. However, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus later called for further investigation into the lab-leak hypothesis.

Kim berates officials for ‘crucial' virus lapse

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un berated top officials for failures in coronavirus prevention that caused a ‘great crisis, using strong language that raised the specter of a mass outbreak in a country that would scarcely be able to handle it. The state media report Wednesday did not specify what ‘crucial' lapse had prompted Kim to call the Politburo meeting of the ruling Workers' Party, but experts said N Korea could be wrestling with a significant setback in its pandemic fight. So far, it has claimed to have no infections, despite testing thousands of people and sharing a porous border with China.

No compulsory vaccinations in Russia, says Putin

Vladimir Putin. Pic/AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been confirmed with high-level antibodies against Covid-19 virus after being inoculated with Sputnik V vaccine, on Wednesday said he remains opposed to compulsory coronavirus vaccinations for Russians, even as the country faces a deadly third wave. "I said once as you remember that I don't support compulsory vaccination. And I continue to adhere to the same point of view," Putin said during his annual ‘Direct Line' call-in television show, responding to citizens questions, the Russian news agency TASS reported. The 68-year-old Russian leader was quoted by The Washington Post as saying, "The only way to prevent the pandemic from developing further is vaccination," he said. "I hope that the prejudices among people will decrease."

Novel mask to detect Covid-19 infection

Researchers at MIT and Harvard University have designed a new face mask that can diagnose if the wearer is infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid-19, within 90 minutes.

1,64,937
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

18,13,44,224
Total no. of cases worldwide

39,34,252
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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