State Department warned in 2018 that Wuhan lab testing bats for coronavirus had sloppy safety precautions and had the potential to cause a 'new SARS-like pandemic'
The US State Department raised concerns over safety issues at the Wuhan research lab studying coronaviruses in animals like bats two years ago, new diplomatic cables reveal.
In 2018 diplomats said there were issues at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, located near the seafood market Chinese authorities claim the virus emerged from, cables obtained by the Washington Post reveal.
A US delegation led by Jamison Fouss, consul general in Wuhan, and Rick Switzer, the Beijing embassy’s counselor of environment, science, technology and health, visited the Wuhan level four biosafety lab multiple times from January to March 2018.
They voiced concern over a lack of safety protocols and the biosafety of the lab's research on coronavirus in animals like bats and warned that if cautionary steps weren't taken, the lab's research could spark a SARS-like outbreak.
They warned that a lack of tight safety measures in handing the contagious viruses in the lab 'represented a risk of a new SARS-like pandemic.'
'During interactions with scientists at the WIV laboratory,
they noted the new lab has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory,' a cable dated January 19, 2018 said.
'The cable was a warning shot. They were begging people to pay attention to what was going on,' one US official said.
The cables argued that the United States should give the Wuhan lab further support to help control the situation, but after those messages no extra assistance was provided to those labs.
The US was not only flagged to the activities going on in that laboratory, but they were also prior financially and scientifically involved in their studies.
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-pandemic.html
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