Is China Responsible for COVID-19 Pandemic? Chinese Scientists Were Aware of SARS-CoV-2 Weeks Before Announcing It

China was blamed when the COVID-19 pandemic broke, with reports claiming the virus originated from bats, and the first transmission was reported in Wuhan. A new report claimed that Chinese scientists were aware of the virus weeks before they said it.

China Was Reportedly Aware of COVID-19 Virus Weeks Before Reporting It

Two weeks before they disclosed this information to the international community, Chinese scientists were reportedly aware of the genetic composition of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a news release issued by the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Wednesday, the delay lost the globe crucial time to prepare, which probably made the virus' effects and death toll-which as of Dec. 31, exceeded seven million.

In 2021, not long after becoming office, U.S. President Joe Biden launched an investigation into the virus, establishing contact with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a Biosafety class 4 laboratory located in the city of Hubei Province, which is thought to be the origin of China's outbreak. A statute requiring government agencies to declassify and exchange intelligence on this possible relationship was signed into law by Biden last year.

The information released on Wednesday implies that the Chinese authorities had the virus's genome mapped two weeks before they made it public and three weeks before they officially acknowledged that it could spread from person to person.

According to documents released by the Energy and Commerce Committee, the viral sequence that was subsequently shared by the Chinese government and belonged to a scientist in Beijing was nearly exact.

After the virus was decoded, Beijing claimed to have released its genetic sequence to the public.

The previous sequence was uploaded to the GenBank genetic sequence data database of the National Institutes of Health by virologist Lili Ren, who works at the Institute of Pathogen Biology at the Chinese Academy of Medical Science, affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

On Dec. 31, 2019, the NIH notified Ren that her proposal was missing necessary technical data and would be removed if it was not supplied. According to the Department of Health and Human Services report, Ren's genome matched the one released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control on Jan. 11, 2020.

ALSO READ: What Is GX_P2V? Mutant Coronavirus Strain Kills Humanized Mice Within 8 Days [Study]

China Was Blamed for COVID-19

There were unfavorable views of China when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020. A survey revealed that more Americans (50%) believe China should be held accountable for the coronavirus pandemic. However, Americans are marginally more likely to favor maintaining a strong economic relationship (51%) over being tough on China (46%) when discussing trade and economic policies toward China. Even said, more people support being tough on China now than they did in 2019, when 35% of respondents said as much.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and China's report revealed that the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from bats to humans most likely occurred through another animal.

The results also indicate that it is "extremely unlikely" that the pandemic virus originated from a laboratory leak. This supports a prevalent belief among leaders outside of China at the start of the outbreak and helps explain the origins of COVID-19. As the study draft says, the evolutionary difference between SARS-CoV-2 and bat-based coronaviruses is expected to be several decades, "suggesting a missing link."

"We know this is a zoological transmission," Alcendor explained. "We have to understand how this virus is being transmitted in the animals that service reservoirs. And once we do, we need to limit this zoological contact to humans."

The WHO investigation corroborated Alcendor's theory that pangolins, also called scaly anteaters, could have played a role in the human origin of SARS-CoV-2, pointing out that the viruses that infect them are strikingly similar. Given that cats and mink are carriers of COVID-19, the report also proposed that these two animals may have acted as the intermediate.

The virus originated from China, but that doesn't necessarily mean they must be blamed for it.

RELATED ARTICLE: Chinese Lab Creates New Covid-19 Strain GX_P2V That Attacks Brain With 100% Fatality in Mouse, Transfer to Humans Feared

Check out more news and information on COVID-19 in Science Times.