Investigation: Coronavirus

This is an article about the coronavirus. As is tradition, incomplete, last update on May 28, 20XX.

Peter Daszak worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology for 16 years until funding was cut.

In the 1950s, the Wuhan Institute of Virology was founded.

“The institute is home to the China Centre for Virus Culture Collection, the largest virus bank in Asia which preserves more than 1,500 strains, according to its website.” — Medical Press

In 2003, China’s Academy of Sciences planned for the Wuhan Institute of Virology to become a reference laboratory for the World Health Organisation.

“Groundbreaking research was led by [Shi Zhengli], 55, who led a series of field expeditions to remote locations to work out how such viruses could jump between species. In 2004, she discovered a natural reservoir of coronaviruses in bats living in caves in southern China.
Over the following 15 years, she worked closely on animal-to-human transition with leading experts from around the world, including Peter Daszak, the British-American president of the New York-based non-profit EcoHealth Alliance who was one of the first scientists to warn that a ‘Disease X’ could cause a global pandemic.” — The Telegraph

In 2004, Michel Barnier signed a decree leading to the creation of the Wuhan Institute of Virology due to an initial co-operation between France and China which fell apart afterwards.

The same year, Shi Zhengli discovered a reservoir for coronaviruses in bats living in caves in southern China.

In 2009, the United States Agency For International Development (USAID) established the Predict program, dedicated to surveilling dangerous animal viruses which could transfer to humans, overseen by Dennis Carroll.

At some stage, the PREDICT program formed a collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

On December 30, 2011, Anthony Fauci, Gary Nabel and Francis Collins published the article “A flu virus risk worth taking” in The Washington Post.

“In addition, determining the molecular Achilles’ heel of these viruses can allow scientists to identify novel antiviral drug targets that could be used to prevent infection in those at risk or to better treat those who become infected. Decades of experience tells us that disseminating information gained through biomedical research to legitimate scientists and health officials provides a critical foundation for generating appropriate countermeasures and, ultimately, protecting the public health.” — Anthony Fauci, Gary Nabel, Francis Collins

In 2012, the Wuhan Institute of Virology opened a P3 laboratory.

On April 2, 2012, six miners, including Mr. Lü, entered a disused copper mine, the Mojiang Mine, in the mountains of southwest China in an attempt to clear bat guano.

On April 22, 2012, Mr. Lü started to feel sick from his exploration of the disused copper mine.

On April 24, 2012, Mr. Guo, a 45-year-old man, was admitted to the №1 School of Clinical Medicine at Kunming Medical University.

On April 25, 2012, Mr. Lü was admitted to the №1 School of Clinical Medicine at Kunming Medical University in southwest China.

On April 26, 2012, three more miners that entered the disused copper mine, Mr. Zhou (63-years-old), Mr. Liu (46-years-old) and Mr. Li (32-years-old) were admitted to the №1 School of Clinical Medicine.

On May 2, 2012, the final sixth miner, Mr. Wu (30-years-old), was admitted to the №1 School of Clinical Medicine.

After the death of two of the miners, the doctors at the №1 School of Clinical Medicine sought the assistance of Zhong Nanshan, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology was brought in to investigate the four remaining survivors.

“[Li Xu]’s thesis was unable to say what exactly killed the three miners, but indicated that the most likely cause was a SARS-like coronavirus from a bat.
‘This makes the research of the bats in the mine where the six miners worked and later suffered from severe pneumonia caused by unknown virus a significant research topic,’ Li concluded.” — The Times

Between August 2012 to August 2013, the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s team of scientists visited the copper mine to investigate the bats and take samples.

“Evidence seen by The Sunday Times suggests that a virus found in its depths — part of a faecal sample that was frozen and sent to a Chinese laboratory for analysis and storage — is the closest known match to the virus that causes Covid-19.” — The Sunday Times

By mid-August 2012, three of the miners from the disused copper mine had passed away.

On October 9, 2012, Anthony Fauci published a paper titled “Research on Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Influenza Virus: The Way Forward” for the American Society For Microbiology, which discussed his view on gain-of-function research.

“With regard to the specific question of whether certain gain-of-function experiments related to the transmissibility of highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza virus should be conducted at all, which addresses directly the issue of the moratorium, the U.S. Government is planning to host an international workshop before the end of 2012 with important input from the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity and with global representation, including those with biosafety and biosecurity expertise, influenza virus and non-influenza virus scientists, and representatives of the domestic and global public. The meeting participates will consider general principles concerning the rationale for and risks and benefits of such experiments and what lines might be drawn in their conduct and/or reporting.” — Anthony Fauci

In 2013, the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas trained Chinese researchers for BSL-4 laboratories.

On July 24, 2013, RaTG13 was discovered as part of the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s investigation of the copper mine.

“According to Daszak, the mine sample had been stored in Wuhan for six years. Its scientists ‘went back to that sample in 2020, in early January or maybe even at the end of last year, I don’t know. They tried to get full genome sequencing, which is important to find out the whole diversity of the viral genome.
However, after sequencing the full genome for RaTG13 the lab’s sample of the virus disintegrated, he said. ‘I think they tried to culture it but they were unable to, so that sample, I think, has gone.’” — The Times

On November 1, 2013, C.H. published the article “Out of the Shadows” in The Economist about the research into bat coronaviruses by Shi Zhengli and Peter Daszak.

In 2014, the National Institutes of Health, with the backing of the National Institute For Allergy and Infectious Diseases, committed $3.7 million for a five-year project to collect and study bat coronaviruses through research, including gain-of-function, to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other locations. For 2014 specifically, a total of $666,442.00 was funded, with Peter Daszak listed as the project lead and EcoHealth Alliance listed as the business.

On March 20, 2014, Richard Stone published the article “A New Killer Virus In China?” in Science, which was about the Mojiang copper mine.

On October 17, 2014, the White House Office of Science and Technology temporarily ended funding for new research that makes viruses more deadly or transmissible, including ending gain-of-function experiments on SARS, MERS and influenza.

“There is really no evidence that these experiments are in fact such high risk. A lot of them are being done by very respectable labs, with lots of precautions in place.” — Arturo Casadevall

In 2015, Technip refused to certify that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had complied with safety standards and abandoned the project. The Wuhan Institute of Virology’s P4 laboratory was completed for $44 million, with consultancy from the founder of a French bioindustrial firm, Alain Merieux.

“The 3,000-square-metre (32,000-square-foot) P4 lab, located in a square building with a cylindrical annex, lies near a pond at the foot of a forrested hill in Wuhan’s remote outskirts.” — Medical Press

“A new facility was taking shape on the virology institute campus on the west side of the Yangtze in Wuhan. Built by a contractor for the People’s Liberation Army under strict secrecy, a top-security laboratory for handling deadly human pathogens was unveiled in 2017.” — The Times

The same year, through the EUR 73 375, the European Parliament Commission provided funds to the Wuhan Institute of Virology under the Horizon 2020 Programme.

Also the same year, the Wuhan Institute of Virology started a gain-of-function research program into bat coronaviruses.

“This ‘gain-of-function’ work is described in papers released by WIV between 2015 and 2017, scientists say. Shi’s team combined snippets of different coronaviruses to see if they could be made more transmissible in what they called ‘virus infectivity experiments’.
[…]
“Shi’s team argued that gain-of-function work increased its understanding of how an ordinary coronavirus might one day transform into a killer such as SARS.” — The Times

On November 9, 2015, Vineet Menachery, Boyd Yount Jr., Kari Debbink, Sudhakar Agnihothram, Lisa Gralinski, Jessica Plante, Rachel Graham, Trevor Scobey, Xing-Yi Ge, Eric Donaldson, Scott Randell, Antonio Lanzavecchia, Wayne Marasco, Zhengli Shi and Ralph Baric published the paper “A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human emergence” in Nature Medicine. The experiments were defended by Peter Daszak.

“Using the SARS-CoV reverse genetics system, we generated and characterised a chimeric virus expressing the spike of bat coronavirus SHC014 in a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV backbone. The results indicate that group 2b viruses encoding the SHC014 spike in a wild-type backbone can efficiently use multiple orthologs of the SARS receptor human angiotensin converting enzyme II (ACE2), replicate efficiently in primary human airway cells and achieve in vitro titers equivalent to epidemic strains of SARS-CoV.”
[…]
“In addition to offering preparation against future emerging viruses, this approach must be considered in the context of the US government–mandated pause on gain-of-function (GOF) studies22. On the basis of previous models of emergence, the creation of chimeric viruses such as SHC014-MA15 was not expected to increase pathogenicity.” — Nature Medicine, Shortly Before the Events of Resident Evil (NOTE: The reference to Resident Evil is a joke, but the hybrid virus experiments sure does remind me of Umbrella Corporation.)

In 2016, Shi Zhengli published the results of her research into the disused copper mine and the various coronavirus strains discovered there in the Virologica Sinica, with the virus titled RaBtCoV/4991, in a report titled “Coexistence of multiple coronaviruses in several bat colonies in an abandoned mineshaft”.

In November 2016, Lei-Ping Zeng, Yu-Tao Gao, Qian Zhang, Cheng Peng, Xing-Lou Yang, Bing Tan, Jing Chen, Aleksei Chmura, Peter Daszak and Zhengli Shi published the paper “Bat Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Like Coronavirus WIV1 Encodes an Extra Accessory Protein, ORFX, Involved in Modulation of the Host Immune Response” in the Journal of Virology for the American Society For Microbiology.

In 2017, Shi Zhengli and her team established that the SARs coronavirus originated from bats.

In January 2017, the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s P4 laboratory received federal accreditation.

On February 22, 2017, David Cyranoski published the article “Inside the Chinese lab poised to study the world’s most dangerous pathogens” in Nature.

In May 2017, Tian Junhua was interviewed by Wuhan Evening News.

“Bats have a large number of unknown viruses on their bodies. The more thorough our research on bats is, the better it will be for human health.” — Tian Junhua

On January 19, 2018, a diplomatic cable was sent from the United States Embassy In Beijing to warn of the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s management and safety.

“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.
Most importantly, the researchers also showed that various SARS-like coronaviruses can interact with ACE2, the human receptor identified for SARS-coronavirus. This finding strongly suggests that SARS-like coronaviruses from bats can be transmitted to humans to cause SARS-like diseases. From a public health perspective, this makes the continued surveillance of SARS-like coronaviruses in bats and study of the animal-human interface critical to future emerging coronavirus outbreak prediction and prevention.” — Diplomatic Cable

“Wang disputed the conclusions. She said U.S. officials did visit the Wuhan Institute of Virology, but in March 2018 — about two months after the Jan. 19, 2018, cable was sent. She added that the officials did not tour any of the labs at the facility and that they did not discuss biosafety procedures.” — NBC News

On March 2, 2018, EcoHealth Alliance published the press release “EcoHealth Alliance Announces Discovery of SARS-Like Viruses Spilling Over Into People In China”, specifically people in the Yunnan Province.

On March 27, 2018, Jamison Fouss and Rick Switzer led a delegation from the United States Embassy In Beijing to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Between October 20–22, 2018, the 8th International Symposium On Emerging Viral Diseases was held in Wuhan, China, hosted by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was attended by Wang Yanyi, Peter Daszak and others.

In November 2018, the Wuhan Institute of Virology was officially opened, with the director being Yuan Zhiming.

In 2019, through the EUR 87 436, the European Parliament Commission provided funds to the Wuhan Institute of Virology under the Horizon 2020 Programme.

The same year, the National Institutes of Health, with the backing of the National Institute For Allergy and Infectious Diseases, committed $3.7 million for research including gain-of-function to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other locations for a total of six years. For 2019 specifically, a total of $661,980 was funded to EcoHealth Alliance, with Peter Daszak listed as the project lead.

In October 2019, Harvard Medical School’s study suggested that an increase in traffic at hospitals throughout Wuhan, China during this time may have been because the coronavirus outbreak happened earlier than reported, although the study noted increased traffic at five Wuhan hospitals from late summer to early fall 2019.

“Something was happening in October… clearly there was some level of social disruption taking place well before what was previously identified as the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic.” — John Brownstein

On October 3, 2019, Karen Pauls published the article “Canadian government scientist under investigation trained staff at Level 4 lab in China” in CBC, which was about Xiangguo Qiu and her training of the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory between 2017 to 2018.

Between October 6 — October 11, 2019, there may have been a hazardous event at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Between October 7 — October 24, 2019, a high-security portion of the Wuhan Institute of Virology had zero mobile phone activity.

Before October 25, 2019, the EcoHealth Alliance received funding from the Predict program ran by the United States Agency For International Development (USAID).

“Americans were originally helping train the Chinese in a program called PREVENT well before the Chinese started working on this virus. The French government helped the Chinese set up the Wuhan lab.” — Fox News

On October 25, 2019, the United States Agency For International Development (USAID) shut down the Predict program, which focused on tracking and monitoring dangerous animal viruses that can transfer to humans.

In November 2019, three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick enough to visit the hospital.

Between November 3–9, 2019, a conference was held at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

On November 17, 2019, the coronavirus emerged in the Hubei province, having been contracted by a 55-year-old man.

“A research paper released this week describes a surprising trend on the Chinese social-media platform WeChat: Usage of keywords related to the new coronavirus spiked more than two weeks before officials confirmed the first cases.
The authors, five infectious-disease researchers in China, analysed the prevalence of the terms “SARS,” its Chinese equivalent ‘Feidian,’ ‘coronavirus,’ ‘shortness of breath,’ ‘dyspnea,’ and ‘diarrhea’ in posts and searches on WeChat from November 17 to December 31. Their findings suggest ‘abnormal spikes and increases’ in the usage of all the keywords during that time.” — Business Insider

In late November 2019, an intelligence report by the United States Army’s National Center For Medical Intelligence (NCMI) was authored, which expressed concerns about a contagion in the Wuhan region. The report used analysis of wires, computer intercepts and satellite imagery.

Towards the end of 2019 — beginning of 2020, the Wuhan Institute of Virology attempted a full genome sequence of RaTG13, which appparently disintegrated.

In December 2019, the intelligence report by the National Center For Medical Intelligence was briefed on multiple occasions to the the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s Joint Staff and the National Security Council at the White House.

On December 1, 2019, the first coronavirus case was recorded in a 70-year-old man with Alzheimer’s disease, which was recorded by researchers at Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital.

In early December 2019, the symptoms of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China became more prominent.

“The first case, the details of which are limited and the specific date unknown, was in early December. By the time the authorities galvanised into action on Jan. 20, the disease had grown into a formidable threat.” — The New York Times

“In those weeks, the authorities silenced doctors and others for raising red flags. They played down the dangers to the public, leaving the city’s 11 million residents unaware they should protect themselves. They closed a food market where the virus was believed to have started, but didn’t broadly curb the wildlife trade.” — The New York Times

Before December 9, 2019, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and Peter Daszak started to collaborate with Ralph Baric.

On December 9, 2019, Vincent Racaniello interviewed Peter Daszak for a YouTube video for TWiV 615.

“At the 28:10 mark of the podcast interview, Daszak states that researchers found that SARS likely originated from bats and then set out to find more SARS-related coronaviruses, eventually finding over 100. He observed that some coronaviruses can ‘get into human cells in the lab’ and others can cause SARS disease in ‘humanised mouse models’.
He ominously warned that such coronaviruses are ‘untreatable with therapeutic monoclonals and you can’t vaccinate against them with a vaccine’. Ironically, he claims that his team’s goal was trying to find the next ‘spillover event’ that could cause the next pandemic, mere weeks before cases of COVID-19 were beginning to be reported in Wuhan.
When Racaniello asks what can be done to deal with coronavirus given that there is no vaccine or therapeutic for them, Daszak at the 29:54 mark appears to reveal that the goal of the GoF experiments was to develop a pan-coronavirus vaccine for many different types of coronaviruses.” — Taiwan News

In mid-December 2019, 59 people were diagnosed with viral pneumonia of an unknown origin, with numerous patients having worked at the South China Seafood City in Wuhan, China. Around this time, Jiang Dafa noticed people were falling ill, including a part-time worker (60-years-old), a friend, and a seafood monger (40-years-old).

On December 10, 2019, the Chinese Government-funded 7-minute film, “Youth In the Wild — Invisible Defender”, was aired featuring Tian Junhua capturing flying mammals and taking samples.

“I am not a doctor, but I work to cure and save people. I am not a soldier, but I work to safeguard an invisible national defence line.” — Tian Junhua

“The young researcher around suspicion because one of the offices of the disease control centre is about 300 years from the Huanan seafood market. He has refused to talk to reporters, but his friends have firmly denied that he was ‘patient zero’.” — The Times

Between December 14–22, 2019, a 43-year-old man, Amirouche Hammar, in Bobigny, France was unknowingly infected with the coronavirus.

By December 20, 2019, there were 60 identifiable cases of the coronavirus in China.

On December 25, 2019, Director Lu Xiaohong at Wuhan Fifth Hospital’s Department of Gastroenterology stated that she had heard of a suspected infection by medical staff.

On or after December 27, 2019, Zhang Jixian of the Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine in the Hubei province reported a suspected outbreak to the provincial government.

“However, an early study published by The Lancet made clear that of the 41 patients who contracted Covid-19 in Wuhan only 27 had been ‘exposed’ to the market. A third had no connection to the market, including the study’s ‘patient zero’, who fell ill on December 1.” — The Times

On December 27, 2019, a 43-year-old man in Bobigny, France, Amirouche Hammar, who had not travelled abroad, was treated for pneumonia when he actually had the coronavirus.

In late December 2019, Hu Xiaohu, who worked in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, suspected an issue due to ill workers and the increasing hospital quarantine.

Around the same time, the Wuhan Institute of Virology had a team, with Zheng-Li Shi as a member, attempt to figure out the origin of the coronavirus.

“Documents detail early efforts by doctors at the lab and early efforts at containment. The Wuhan wet market initially identified as a possible point of origin never sold bats, and the sources tell Fox News that blaming the wet market was an effort by China to deflect blame from the laboratory, along with the country’s propaganda efforts targeting the U.S. and Italy.” — Fox News

On December 30, 2019, Doctor Li Wenliang stated he was quarantined in the emergency department in an online group chat to his medical school classmates. In the middle of the night, Wuhan health authority officials summoned Doctor Li and demanded to know why he shared the information.

The same day, samples arrived at the Wuhan Institute of Virology for Shi Zhengli to investigate two hospital patients with atypical pneumonia that may have the coronavirus as per the Wuhan Center For Disease Control. At the time, Shi Zhengli was in Shanghai for a conference, and then left for Wuhan upon being informed of the samples arrival. The samples themselves came from the Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital.

On December 31, 2019, Doctor Li’s message became more public, and Chinese authorities decided to control the narrative. Chinese authorities also informed the World Health Organisation’s Beijing branch.

The same day, a Wuhan journalist investigated a secret Mahjong parlor hidden up a ladder near a public toilet still playing the game despite the coronavirus spreading throughout the Wuhan market.

Mahjong is great, don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.

The same day, a 14-second video was recorded at Wuhan Fifth Hospital of doctors breaking down over the coronavirus epidemic.

“I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE.” — Doctor

“She [Lu Xiaohong] also said that the video of doctors weeping in the office on New Year’s Eve was real. Her colleague, an old 70-year-old director, sent a text message saying that if necessary, she would come back to work at any time.” — China Youth Daily

The same day, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission published a public notice about the pneumonia epidemic in Wuhan, forced due to Doctor Li’s revelations.

“Recently, some medical institutions found that many of the pneumonia cases received were related to South China Seafood City. After receiving the report, the Municipal Health and Health Commission immediately launched a case search and retrospective investigation related to South China Seafood City in the city’s medical and health institutions. Twenty-seven cases have been found , of which 7 are in serious condition, and the remaining cases are stable and controllable. Two patients are expected to be discharged in the near future. The clinical manifestations of the cases were mainly fever, a few patients had difficulty breathing, and chest radiographs showed bilateral lung infiltrative lesions. At present, all cases have been isolated for treatment, follow-up investigations and medical observations of close contacts are ongoing, and hygiene investigations and environmental sanitation disposals for South China Seafood City are ongoing.
Wuhan organized consultations with clinical medical, epidemiological, and virological experts from Tongji Hospital, Provincial CDC, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan Infectious Disease Hospital, and Wuhan CDC. According to the analysis of epidemiological investigations and preliminary laboratory tests, the above cases are considered to be viral pneumonia. The investigation so far has not found any obvious human-to-human transmission and no medical staff infection. Detection of the pathogen and investigation of the cause of the infection are ongoing.
Viral pneumonia is more common in winter and spring, and can be spread or outbreak. The clinical manifestations are fever, soreness, dyspnea in a small part, and lung infiltration. Viral pneumonia is related to the virulence of the virus, the route of infection, and the age and immune status of the host. Viruses that cause viral pneumonia are common with influenza viruses, others are parainfluenza viruses, cytomegaloviruses, adenoviruses, rhinoviruses, and coronaviruses. Confirmation depends on pathogenic tests, including virus isolation, serological tests, and viral antigen and nucleic acid tests. The disease can be prevented and controlled, and indoor air circulation can be prevented to prevent public places and closed places where there is no air circulation. People can wear masks when going out. Symptomatic treatment is the main clinical practice, and bed rest is required. If you have the above symptoms, especially the persistent fever, you should go to the medical institution in time.” — Wuhan Municipal Health Commission

From January 2020 to April 2020, Matthew Pottinger pushed American intelligence agencies to gather information to connect the origin of the coronavirus to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

“The other journalist, a print reporter I’ll call Yin, reminisced about the unusual freedom the press had been granted for a brief period in January. Journalists reported on whistle-blower figures like Li Wenliang, and they exposed some early missteps, like a failure by the Red Cross to distribute critical medical equipment. Such problems were quickly fixed, and Yin felt glad to be of service to society. ‘I could see what it means to be the fourth estate,’ she said. But, in February, as the government started to get control of the pandemic, it also tightened restrictions on the press. ‘A friend of mine said that it was a very short spring’, Yin said.” — The New Yorker

In January 2020, Anthony Ruggiero hosted a videoconference which included the Central Intelligence Agency about the potential link between the coronavirus and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, only for the Central Intelligence Agency analysts to state they did not have evidence for any origin.

“The C.I.A.’s judgment was based in part on the fact that no signs had emerged that the Chinese government believed the outbreak came from a lab. The Chinese government has vigorously denied that the virus leaked from a lab while pushing disinformation on its origins, including suggesting that the American military created it.” — The New York Times

In early January 2020, a detailed explanation of the rising coronavirus issue in Wuhan was added in the President’s Daily Brief of intelligence matters.

On January 1, 2020, Wuhan Police arrived at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which led to its closure and cleaned by HAZMAT-wearing people.

The same day, Chinese authorities arrested 8 people for posting information on the internet without their authorisation.

Between January 1–5, 2020, the Wuhan Fifth Hospital’s emergency ward was filling with patients, including members of the same family. Meanwhile, the Wuhan Institute of Virology isolated the genetic sequence and viral strain.

On January 2, 2020, Doctor Li Wenliang was forced to sign a statement that his discussions of quarantine on December 30, 2019 constituted illegal behaviour by the Wuhan Police.

The same day, Director Lu Xiaohong suggested that the Wuhan Fifth Hospital established a fever clinic.

On January 3, 2020, Chinese authorities stated that 44 cases had been confirmed, with 11 considered severe. Singapore and Hong Kong responded with screening processes for visitors from Wuhan. Director Robert Redfield at the Centre of Distance Control also contacted Chinese colleagues the same day.

“There has also been no human-to-human transmission, the statement added. However, a number of those infected worked at a seafood market in the city, leading authorities to clean the area.” — BBC News

Between January 4–5, 2020, Chinese laboratories ruled out SARS; the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS; the flu; bird flu; adenoviruses; and other common pathogens that cause pneumonia.

On January 6, 2020, Secretary Alex Azar contacted the Chinese Minister of Health, Ma Xiaowei, and offered to send a team from the Centre of Disease Control to Wuhan.

“Shi instructed her group to repeat the tests and, at the same time, sent the samples to another facility to sequence the full viral genomes. Meanwhile she frantically went through her own lab’s records from the past few years to check for any mishandling of experimental materials, especially during disposal. Shi breathed a sigh of relief when the results came back: none of the sequences matched those of the viruses her team had sampled from bat caves. ‘That really took a load off my mind,’ she says. ‘I had not slept a wink for days.’” — Scientific American

On January 7, 2020, the Wuhan Institute of Virology gave the coronavirus the identity of 2019-nCoV, which was identified by Shi Zhengli and her team.

The same day, Mayor Zhou Xianwang of Wuhan delivered a report to the People’s Congress, where he made no acknowledgement of the coronavirus outbreak.

Also the same day, President Xi Jinping demanded information on how the coronavirus would be prevented and controlled during a meeting with the Politburo Standing Committee.

On January 8, 2020, Hong Kong hospitalised 8 people who have visited Wuhan.

The same day, Dong Guanghe developed coronavirus symptoms in Wuhan, where he was treated at a hospital and sent home.

On January 9, 2020, Chinese authorities then announced that the virus was a strain of the coronavirus and that there had been no deaths tied to it at that time.

“The authorities in Wuhan are still closely monitoring 163 people who were in close contact with the patients, Dr. Hui said. He added that 15 days, the minimum incubation period for some viral infections, had not yet passed since the last reported instance of the disease, on Dec. 29.” — The New York Times

Between January 10–11, 2020, the China Center For Disease Control sequenced numerous environmental samples from Wuhan.

On January 10, 2020, Doctor Li treated a woman for glaucoma, who was also — unknown to Doctor Li — infected with the coronavirus.

The same day, a 61-year-old shopper named Zeng at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market passed away from the coronavirus, having checked into the Wuhan Puren Hospital.

On January 12, 2020, Chinese authorities revealed the death of Zeng.

“The authorities disclosed the man’s death two days after it happened. They did not mention a crucial detail in understanding the course of the epidemic. Mr. Zeng’s wife had developed symptoms five days after he did.
She had never visited the market.” — The New York Times

The same day, the genomic sequence was passed from the Wuhan Institute of Virology to the World Health Organisation.

On January 13, 2020, Thailand confirmed that they had received a coronavirus case — the first case outside of China.

“In the six days after top Chinese officials secretly determined they likely were facing a pandemic from a new coronavirus, the city of Wuhan at the epicenter of the disease hosted a mass banquet for tens of thousands of people; millions began travelling through for Lunar New Year celebrations.” — Fox News

The same day, Gary Kobinger, an advisor to the World Health Organisation, e-mailed a series of people to suggest the virus originated in the wet market.

“This corona is very close to SARS. If we put aside an accident… then I would look at the bats in these markets (sold and ‘wild’).” — Gary Kobinger

On January 14, 2020, the World Health Organisation tweeted: “Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in Wuhan, China.”

“Officials told doctors at a top city hospital ‘don’t use the words viral pneumonia on the image reports,’ according to the complaint, which has since been removed. People were complacent, ‘thinking that if the official reports had nothing, then we were exaggerating,’ the doctor explained.” — The New York Times

On January 17, 2020, Governor Wang Xiaodong of the Hubei province stated to Chinese officials that Chairman Xi Jianyang wanted to avoid politics in relation to the coronavirus outbreak.

“Stressing politics is always №1. Political issues are at any time the most fundamental major issues.” — Governor Wang Xiaodong

On January 18, 2020, Dong Guanghe’s wife fell ill with coronavirus symptoms.

The same day, Zhong Nanshan arrived in Wuhan, while a Hubei Province health conference declared a need to prioritise the coronavirus outbreak, with the Wuhei Union Hospital sharing a document that it could be spread through saliva.

Also the same day, Secretary Azar contacted President Trump on the phone.

Around January 18, 2020, Director Lu Xiaohong learned that medical staff at Wuhan Xiehe Hospital were wearing protective clothing and were using a vacated building for fever patients.

On January 20, 2020, Director Lu Xiaohong texted a principal of a nearby high school to the Wuhan Fifth Hospital to take a vacation instead of spend time with the high school seniors doing make-up lessons.

Zhong Nanshan, the Head of the National Health Commission Team in China, confirmed two cases of infection in Guangdong, China had been caused by human-to-human transmission.

“The World Health Organisation has said an animal source was ‘the most likely primary source’ of the outbreak, with ‘some limited human-to-human transmission occurring between close contacts’. Researchers worry the number of infections has been severely underestimated.”
[…]
“Some residents in Wuhan have been told not to speak to media. The official Weibo account of Wuhan police said on 1 January that eight internet users who spread false information online ‘causing adverse social impacts’ had been dealt with ‘according to the law’.” — The Guardian

“That night, CCTV broadcast a news interview with Zhong Nanshan, and we were convinced that the virus could be passed on from person to person. I realised that we underestimated the enemy.” — Director Lu Xiaohong

In late January 2020, Chen Wei, a Major General of the Peoples’ Liberation Army, took control of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Between January 20–26, 2020, eight hospitals in the Hubei providence, which features the city of Wuhan, requested for N95 masks, goggles, surgical masks and surgical gowns, with some goggles being made out of plastic folders. The President’s Daily Brief also included reporting from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency about the subject.

Between January 20–27, 2020 (third week of January), employees at the United States Department of State discussed the coronavirus when United States diplomats in Wuhan were being returned home on chartered planes.

On January 21, 2020, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Military Medicine Institute of the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Military Science applied for a patent for the use of Remdesivir, developed by Gilead.

“Gilead did not immediately respond to request for comment but last week said it was working with China to test Remdesivir for use in a small number of patients with the coronavirus.” — Reuters

On January 22, 2020, censorship of WeChat was still in effect in China.

“The desire to limit information critical of Beijing can sweep up even general information shared between individuals — including outside China. Earlier this month, a timeline of developments in the coronavirus outbreak was being widely shared on WeChat but then began to be censored, according to users Quartz spoke to. Quartz on Jan. 22 tried and failed to send the image via a private chat between a user in the US and one in the UK. There was no notification to the sender that the picture had not been sent, which often happens when people try to send ‘sensitive’ content on the app. However, the person in the UK never received the picture on her end. After rotating the photo, it went through.” — Quartz

On January 23, 2020, President Xi Jinping authorised the lockdown of Wuhan, China and other cities.

On January 26, 2020, Bill Gertz published the article “Coronavirus may have originated in lab linked to China’s biowarfare program” in The Washington Times, which featured a claim from Dany Shoham, an Israeli intelligence official from 1970 to 1991.

On January 27, 2020, Secretary Azar contacted Minister Ma Xiaowei and offered to send a team from the Centre of Disease Control a second time to Wuhan.

On the same day, Premier Li Keqiang visited Wuhan to inspect the situation.

“As happened with SARS, traditional Chinese medicine — an industry that the government has pledged to develop — is prominently being touted as a way to treat this new coronavirus. But there is no clinical evidence that the gallstones of cattle, the roots of plants and licorice could work in combating it.” — The New York Times

Also the same day, Sui-Lee Wee published the article “‘What if We All Get Sick?’: Coronavirus Strains China’s Health System” in The New York Times.

“China does not have a functioning primary care system, so most people flock to hospitals. On an ordinary day, doctors are frustrated and exhausted as they see as many as 200 patients.
Those weaknesses are most pronounced in the poorer areas of China — like Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus. Panicked residents of the city are heading to the hospitals if they have any sign of a cold or cough. Videos circulating on Chinese social media show doctors straining to handle the enormous workload and hospital corridors loaded with patients, some of whom appear to be dead.” — The New York Times

Also the same day, Billie Thomson published the article “Shocking footage shows ‘medic’ in Wuhan crying and screaming ‘I can’t take it anymore’ after ‘working day and night to treat coronavirus patients’” in The Daily Mail.

Also the same day, aides at the White House met with Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney in his office to discuss the coronavirus, with another attendee being Joe Grogan.

On January 28, 2020, Secretary Azar hosted a press conference.

In late January 2020 to early February 2020, United States intelligence agencies increased their warnings about the coronavirus.

In February 2020, President Trump held a meeting with officials and stated that he wanted to praise China in order to gain information from China.

In early February 2020, Joe Grogan and Matthew Pottinger, alongside others, pushed for an increased response to the coronavirus.

Also in early February 2020, Robert Kadlee at the United States Department of Health and Human Services held a classified briefing with the Senate Intelligence Committee on the coronavirus, with the House Intelligence Committee receiving a classified briefing afterwards.

In February 2020, Shi Zhengli published a paper in Nature about the existence of RaTG13, which was 96.2% similar to the SARS-CoV-2, found in a bat in Yunnan, where the Mojiang Mine is located.

The same month, the World Health Organisation formed a Working Group in relation to the COVID-19 virus, reagents and immune assays. The Working Group was chaired by William Dowling, and included members such as Peter Daszak and Shi Zhengli.

In early February 2020, China’s Academy For Military Medical Sciences could not determine whether the coronavirus was released accidentally from a laboratory or caused naturally.

On February 1, 2020, Chris Buckley and Steven Lee Myers published the article “As New Coronavirus Spread, China’s Old Habits Delayed Fight” in The New York Times.

On February 3, 2020, President Trump banned foreigners who had been in China in the last 14 days from entering the United States.

On the same day, President Xi Jinping delivered an internal speech about the coronavirus.

On February 4, 2020, President Trump hosted the State of the Union, which included a reference to the coronavirus.

“Protecting Americans’ health also means fighting infectious diseases. We are coordinating with the Chinese government and working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in China. My administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat.” — President Donald Trump

On February 6, 2020, Doctor Li Wenliang passed away from the coronavirus.

On February 11, 2020, Director General Tedros Adhanom stated that the name of the virus was COVID-19.

On February 16, 2020, Senator Tom Cotton said during an interview with Maria Bartiromo of Fox News that the virus was connected to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

“So, Maria, this is what we do know — this virus did not originate in the Wuhan market.

The same day, Mark Hodge published the article “Coronavirus may have started in Wuhan lab where HUNDREDS of bats ‘attacked and peed on scientists’, experts say” in The Sun, which was about the South China University of Technology’s research paper on the origins of coronavirus.

“Written by Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao, the research journal claimed WCDC ‘hosted animals in laboratories for research purposes’, including 605 bats captured in nearby provinces.
The paper, titled ‘The possible origins of 2019-nCoV coronavirus’, reports that one researcher named only as JH Tian ‘was once attacked by bats’ and that ‘the blood of bat was on his skin’.
According to the journal, Tian isolated himself for 28 days after the ‘bats peed on him’.
As well as the Wuhan food market, the lab is also located near the Union hospital where a group of doctors were among the first to become infected.” — The Sun

Between February 16–24, 2020, China and the World Health Organisation participated in a joint mission on the coronavirus disease, which consisted of 25 national and international experts from China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Nigeria, Russia, Singapore, the United States and the World Health Organisation, led by Dr. Bruce Aylward (WHO) and Dr. Wannian Liang (China).

On February 19, 2020, a number of public health scientists signed a statement to condemn conspiracy theories that the coronavirus does not have a natural origin. This included Charles Calisher, Dennis Carroll, Rita Colwell, Ronald Corley, Peter Daszak, Christian Drosten, Luis Enjuanes, Jeremy Farrar, Hume Field, Josie Golding, Alexander Gorbalenya, Bart Haagmans, James Hughes, William Karesh, Gerald Keusch, Sai Kit Lam, Juan Lubroth, John Mackenzie, Larry Madoff, Jonna Mazet, Peter Palese, Stanley Perlman, Leo Poon, Bernard Roizman, Linda Saif, Kanta Subbarao and Mike Turner.

On February 20, 2020, Jane Li published the article “Why a Chinese virology lab is unable to quell the coronavirus conspiracy theories around it” in QZ.

On February 22, 2020, Steven W. Mosher published the opinion article “Don’t buy China’s story: The coronavirus may have leaked from a lab” in New York Post.

On February 24, 2020, the China Centre For Disease Control created a series of new approval processes for publication under instruction from President Xi Jinping.

On February 25, 2020, the China Centre For Disease Control created a new rule ordering employees to avoid sharing data, specimens and other information to other institutions or individuals.

On February 28, 2020, Ken Dilanian published the article “U.S. intel agencies warned of rising risk of outbreak like coronavirus” in NBC News.

“So far this year, the intelligence agency chiefs have not agreed to release a public worldwide threats assessment or testify in public, because, officials tell NBC News, they are reluctant to discuss intelligence that might displease President Donald Trump. This robs Congress of a chance to question intelligence officials publicly about the national security and economic implications of the coronavirus outbreak.” — NBC News

The same day, the final report of the China and World Health Organisation joint mission was submitted.

On February 29, 2020, Holly Secon published the article “Chinese social-media platform WeChat saw spikes in the terms ‘SARS,’ ‘coronavirus,’ and ‘shortness of breath,’ weeks before the first cases were confirmed, a study suggests” in Business Insider.

On March 2, 2020, President Xi Jinping stated he wanted coordination on the coronavirus.

On March 3, 2020, the State Council Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism Scientific Research Task Force, part of the General Office of the Ministry of Science and Technology in China, was created and issued a directive mandating all findings and publication of data must be approved by them under direct orders from President Xi Jinping.

Before March 4, 2020, Fang Fang, a novelist, kept an online journal titled “Wuhan Diary” about the coronavirus affecting Wuhan.

On March 12, 2020, Lijian Zhao tweeted: “2/2 CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!”

The same day, Eliza Barclay published the article “The conspiracy theories about the origins of the coronavirus, debunked” in Vox.

On March 13, 2020, Josephine Ma published the article “Coronavirus: China’s first confirmed Covid-19 case traced back to November 17” in South China Morning Post.

On March 20, 2020, Shane Harris, Greg Miller, Josh Dawsey and Ellen Nakashima published the article “U.S. intelligence reports from January and February warned about a likely pandemic” in The Washington Post.

On March 21, 2020, Molly Stellino published the article “Fact check: Coronavirus not man-made or engineered but its origin remains unclear” in USA Today, where USA Today rated the origin from a laboratory as “partly false”.

On March 26, 2020, the United States allegedly surpassed China in deaths due to the coronavirus.

On March 27, 2020, the Defense Intelligence Agency updated their assessment on the coronavirus to acknowledge that the coronavirus may have accidentally leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in a report titled “China: Origins of COVID-19 Outbreak Remain Unknown”.

“We have no credible evidence to indicate SARS-CoV-2 was released intentionally or was created as a biological weapon. It is very unlikely that researchers or the Chinese government would intentionally release such a dangerous virus, especially within China, without possessing a known and effective vaccine.” — Defense Intelligence Agency

In late March 2020, American intelligence officials presented information to the White House, based on intercepted communications among Chinese officials, which made people reconsider the theory with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Between March 23–29, 2020, an intelligence agency provided a report to the White House which stated that China was intentionally concealing the cases and death totals.

On March 30, 2020, Bill Gertz published the article “Chinese researchers isolated deadly bat coronaviruses near Wuhan animal market” in The Washington Times, which was about Tian Junhua.

On March 31, 2020, China added 1,500 asymptomatic cases to their total.

“The medical community made — interpreted the Chinese data as: This was serious, but smaller than anyone expected. Because I think probably we were missing a significant amount of the data, now that what we see happened to Italy and see what happened to Spain.” — Doctor Deborah Birx

On April 1, 2020, Nick Wadhams and Jennifer Jacobs published the article “China Concealed Extent of Virus Outbreak, U.S. Intelligence Says” in Bloomberg.

On April 2, 2020, Patrick Knox published the article “Chinese virus expert filmed catching bats fuels conspiracy coronavirus was caused by Wuhan scientists” in The Sun, which featured a 7-minute film titled “Youth In the Wild — Invisible Defender” from December 2019 of Tian Junhua capturing flying mammals and taking samples.

Before April 4, 2020, a study at the South China University of Technology published a paper which suggested that the Centre For Disease Control in China was the originating point, and the paper was shortly removed.

On April 4, 2020, Glen Owen published the article “Did the coronavirus leak from a research lab in Wuhan? Startling new theory is ‘no longer being discounted’ amid claims staff ‘got infected after being sprayed with blood’” in The Daily Mail.

“Senior Government sources say that while ‘the balance of scientific advice’ is still that the deadly virus was first transmitted to humans from a live animal market in Wuhan, a leak from a laboratory in the Chinese city is ‘no longer being discounted’.
One member of Cobra, the emergency committee led by Boris Johnson, said last night that while the latest intelligence did not dispute the virus was ‘zoonotic’ — originating in animals — it did not rule out that the virus first spread to humans after leaking from a Wuhan laboratory.
The member of Cobra, which receives detailed classified briefings from the security services, said: ‘There is a credible alternative view [to the zoonotic theory] based on the nature of the virus. Perhaps it is no coincidence that there is that laboratory in Wuhan. It is not discounted.’”
[…]
“Prof Ebright said he has seen evidence that scientists at the Centre for Disease Control and the Institute of Virology studied the viruses with only ‘Level 2’ security — rather than the recommended Level 4 — which ‘provides only minimal protections against infection of lab workers.’” — The Daily Mail

On April 7, 2020, Acting Director Richard Grennell held a review of intelligence between various agencies to determine a consensus on the origin of the coronavirus, which they were unable to do.

On April 8, 2020, Katherine Faulders, Luis Martinez and Terrance Smith published the article “Intelligence report warned of coronavirus crisis as early as November” in ABC News.

The same day, Henry Holloway published the article “Inside Wuhan’s shadowy coronavirus labs that create ‘super-viruses’ and conduct deadly experiments with infected bats” in The Sun.

Also the same day, the restrictions surrounding Wuhan were lifted.

On April 14, 2020, Josh Rogin published the article “State Department cables warned of safety issues at Wuhan lab studying bat coronaviruses” in The Washington Post.

On April 15, 2020, Bret Baier and Gregg Re published the article “Sources believe coronavirus outbreak originated in Wuhan lab as part of China’s efforts to compete with US” in Fox News.

“The sources believe the initial transmission of the virus — a naturally occurring strain that was being studied there — was bat-to-human and that ‘patient zero’ worked at the laboratory, then went into the population in Wuhan.
The ‘increasing confidence’ comes from classified and open-source documents and evidence, the sources said. Fox News has requested to see the evidence directly. Sources emphasised — as is often the case with intelligence — that it’s not definitive and should not be characterised as such. Some inside the Administration and the intelligence and epidemiological communities are more skeptical, and the investigation is continuing.”
[…]
“China ‘100 percent’ suppressed data and changed data, the sources tell Fox News. Samples were destroyed, contaminated areas scrubbed, some early reports erased, and academic articles stifled.”
[…]
“Additionally, the sources tell Fox News the World Health Organisation (WHO) was complicit from the beginning in helping China cover its tracks.” — Fox News

On April 17, 2020, President Trump announced during a press briefing that a grant to EcoHealth Alliance would be terminated due to their research activities with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

“I’ve been hearing about that. And we’ve instructed that if any grants are going to that area — we’re looking at it, literally, about an hour ago, and also early in the morning. We will end that grant very quickly.” — President Donald Trump

The same day, Secretary Mike Pompeo had an interview with Hugh Hewitt.

“We know that the Chinese Communist Party, when it began to evaluate what to do inside of Wuhan, considered whether the W.I.V. was, in fact, the place where this came from.” — Secretary Mike Pompeo

On April 18, 2020, Yuan Zhiming was interviewed by CGTN, where he said stated that the lab leak was a conspiracy theory.

On April 19, 2020, Michael Lauer sent a letter to Kevin Olival (EcoHealth Alliance) and Naomi Schrag (Columbia University) that their $3.7 million grant from the United States National Institute of Health, “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergency”, was under investigation due to its connection to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

On April 20, 2020, Keoni Everington published the article “Photo reveals warped seal on Wuhan lab freezer door” in Taiwan News, which was about a photograph taken in early March 2018 at the Wuhan Institute of Virology by China Daily. It also suggested that the coronavirus may have escaped from the Wuhan Center For Disease Control and Prevention rather than the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

“The study identified the Wuhan Center For Disease Control & Prevention (WHCDC), which is only 280 meters from the wet market as having collected 155 horseshoe bats, the type suspected of carrying CoV ZC45 from Hubei and Province and 450 from Zhejiang province. The reported cited an expert who had been involved in collecting samples as having been attacked by bats and having blood spattered on his skin on previous occasions at the lab.” — Taiwan News

Also the same day, Joe Pompeo published the article “Inside the Viral Spread of a Coronavirus Origin Theory” in Vanity Fair.

Between April 20–26, 2020, a tasking was sent to the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency to investigate whether China and the World Health Organisation hid information about the coronavirus pandemic, with the Central Intelligence Agency receiving similar instructions.

On April 23, 2020, China’s Foreign Ministry informed journalists that the World Health Organisation had not found evidence linking the coronavirus origin to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

On April 24, 2020, the United States National Institute of Health terminated a grant for EcoHealth Alliance, as the grant supported collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

On April 27, 2020, Matthew Boyle published the article “EXCLUSIVE — FEDERAL HEALTH OFFICIALS INVESTIGATING WUHAN LAB SUSPECTED OF LEAKING CORONAVIRUS, TAXPAYER GRANTS TO LAB” in Breitbart.

The same day, Fred Guterl, Naveed Jamali and Tom O’Connor published the article “The Controversial Experiments and Wuhan Lab Suspected of Starting the Coronavirus Pandemic” in Newsweek.

Also the same day, Fred Guterl followed the article with “Dr. Fauci Backed Controversial Wuhan Lab with U.S. Dollars for Risky Coronavirus Research” in Newsweek.

On April 29, 2020, Ken Dilanian, Courtney Kube and Carol E. Lee published the article “Trump administration asks intelligence agencies to find out whether China, WHO hid info on coronavirus pandemic” in NBC News.

Before April 30, 2020, Secretary Mike Pompeo pushed for American intelligence agencies to determine the link between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the coronavirus.

On April 30, 2020, President Donald Trump stated that he had seen evidence that the coronavirus originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The same day, Mark Mazzetti, Julian E. Barnes, Edward Wong and Adam Goldman published the article “Trump Officials Are Said to Press Spies to Link Virus and Wuhan Labs” in The New York Times.

In May 2020, the Australian Government called for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus.

On May 1, 2020, Peter Daszak was interviewed by Shane Harris and Paul Sonne at The Washington Post.

“This idea that it doesn’t fit the goals and objectives — there must be more to it. You can’t apply for money from the NIH unless it’s within the goals and objectives of the organisation. They review that when you submit a proposal.” — Peter Daszak

On May 4, 2020, Anthony Fauci was interviewed by Nsikan and Victoria Jaggard for the article “Fauci: No scientific evidence the coronavirus was made in a Chinese lab” in National Geographic.

“Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, shot down the discussion that has been raging among politicians and pundits, calling it ‘a circular argument’ in a conversation Monday with National Geographic.
‘If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and what’s out there now, [the scientific evidence] is very, very strongly leaning toward this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated… everything about the stepwise evolution over time strongly indicates that [this virus] evolved in nature and then jumped species,’ Fauci says. Based on the scientific evidence, he also doesn’t entertain an alternate theory — that someone found the coronavirus in the wild, brought it to a lab, and then it accidentally escaped.” — National Geographic

The same day, Roland Oliphant, Nicola Smith and Henry Samuel published the article “The inside story of the Wuhan virus laboratory blamed by President Trump for releasing Covid-19” in The Telegraph.

Also the same day, Alex Marquardt, Kylie Atwood and Zachary Cohen published the article “Intel shared among US allies indicates virus outbreak more likely came from market, not a Chinese lab” in CNN.

“Intelligence shared among Five Eyes nations indicates it is ‘highly unlikely’ that the coronavirus outbreak was spread as a result of an accident in a laboratory but rather originated in a Chinese market, according to two Western officials who cited an intelligence assessment that appears to contradict claims by President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
‘We think it’s highly unlikely it was an accident,’ a Western diplomatic official with knowledge of the intelligence said. ‘It is highly likely it was naturally occurring and that the human infection was from natural human and animal interaction.’ The countries in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing coalition are coalescing around this assessment, the official said, and a second official, from a Five Eyes country, concurred with it. The US has yet to make a formal assessment public.”
[…]
“A third source, also from a Five Eyes nation, told CNN that the level of certainty being expressed by Pompeo and Trump is way out in front of where the current Five Eyes assessment is. This source acknowledged that there is still a possibility that the virus originated from a laboratory, but cautioned there is nothing to make that a legitimate theory yet.” — CNN (NOTE: Seems as if the first official has no relation to Five Eyes?)

On May 5, 2020, Chris Cillizza published the article “Anthony Fauci just crushed Donald Trump’s theory on the origins of the coronavirus” in CNN.

Before May 9, 2020, NBC News Verification Unit in London acquired a report which was also provided to American intelligence suggesting a cellphone network shutdown in October 2019 in Wuhan, China.

On May 9, 2020, Ken Dilanian, Ruaridh Arrow, Courtney Kube, Carol E. Lee, Louise Jones and Lorand Bodo published the article “Report says cellphone data suggests October shutdown at Wuhan lab, but experts are skeptical” in NBC News.

On May 12, 2020, the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market opened again.

The same day, Paul Sonne and Shane Harris published the article “Trump-fueled suspicion of Wuhan lab ensnares New York nonprofit researching bat coronaviruses” in The Washington Post.

On May 18, 2020, Science and Technology Daily interviewed Yuan Zhiming and Guan Wuxiang.

On May 23, 2020, CGTN had an interview with Wang Yanyi of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

CGTN: “Since the outbreak began, there has been speculation that the novel coronavirus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. How do you respond to that?”
WANG YANYI: “This is pure fabrication. Our institute first received the clinical sample of the unknown pneumonia on December 30 last year. After we checked the pathogen within the sample, we found it contained a new coronavirus, which is now called SARS-CoV-2. We didn’t have any knowledge before that, nor had we ever encountered, researched or kept the virus. In fact, like everyone else, we didn’t even know the virus existed. How could it have leaked from our lab when we never had it?”

On June 1, 2020, Jane Qiu published the article “How China’s ‘Bat Woman’ Hunted Down Viruses From SARS to the New Coronavirus” in Scientific American.

On June 9, 2020, The Times published the article “Coronavirus: Satellite images suggest Wuhan outbreak began last autumn”.

On July 4, 2020, George Arbuthnott, Jonathan Calvert and Philip Sherwell published the article “Revealed: Seven year coronavirus trail from mine deaths to a Wuhan lab” in The Times.

In early July 2020, the China National Biotec Group (subsidiary of Sinopharm, which is state-owned) created a vaccine manufacturing plant in Wuhan, China and Beijing, China. At some stage, Yiwu He, the former Deputy Director of the Gates Foundation, worked with the China National Biotec Group on a number of vaccines.

“I know a few government officials personally, and they told me that they took the vaccine. It’s middle-level officials. Vice ministers, vice mayors. Every senior executive at Sinopharm and C.N.B.G. has been vaccinated. Including the C.E.O. of Sinopharm, the chairman of the board, every vice president — everyone.”
[…]
“Chinese officials are thinking that Donald Trump might approve a U.S. vaccine before the election. So their goal is to have a vaccine approved before that.” — Yiwu He

On August 9, 2020, NBC News visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the first foreign news organisation to do so, for a total of five hours including a tour and meeting with senior scientists, including Wang Yanyi.

“It is unfortunate that we have been targeted as a scapegoat for the origin of the virus. Any person would inevitably feel very angry or misunderstood being subject to unwarranted or malicious accusations while carrying out research and related work in the fight against the virus.” — Wang Yanyi, Diector of the Wuhan Institute of Virology

“During separate 50-minute interviews accompanied by a representative of the government, Wang and Yuan Zhiming, vice director of the institute, strongly denied that the virus could have originated at the institute. They also said scientists at the facility obtained their first samples of the coronavirus after the disease had begun to spread among the public.” — NBC News

“NBC News was not able to verify her statements on when the lab first received live samples of the virus or whether any of its scientists were sickened by it.” — NBC News

On August 10, 2020, Janis Mackey Freyer and Denise Chow published the article “Inside the Chinese lab central to the search for the coronavirus’ origin” in NBC News.

“Cloistered off a major thoroughfare, the Wuhan Institute of Virology could pass for a college campus, its red brick buildings distinguishable from their busy surroundings only by a long, imposing driveway lined with cameras, with a security guard standing sentry.” — NBC News

In mid-August 2020, Peter Hessler visited Wuhan, where he was followed by a plainclothes police officer and promptly left the area.

In late August 2020, Peter Hessler visited the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where he was accompanied by a guard and told not to take photographs of his visit.

In September 2020, the publicly available database of samples and virus sequences hosted by the Wuhan Institute of Virology was taken down.

On October 5, 2020, Peter Hessler published the article “Nine Days In Wuhan, The Ground Zero of the Coronavirus Pandemic” in The New Yorker.

In November 2020, Shi Zhengli updated her paper in Nature to state that RaTG13 and RaBtCoV/4991 were the same, and added information about the six miners from 2012.

“But one state media employee told the Financial Times that senior editors instructed journalists not to interview the WHO experts without Chinese foreign ministry approval.” — The Financial Times

Between November 26–28, 2020, the 9th International Symposium On Emerging Viral Diseases was held in Wuhan, China, hosted by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, attended by Shi Zhengli and Peter Daszak.

In late November 2020, a number of journalists at The Associated Press attempted to visit the Chinese copper mine, only to be tailed by plainclothes police officers who blocked the roads.

“A bat research team visiting recently managed to take samples but had them confiscated, two people familiar with the matter said. Specialists in coronaviruses have been ordered not to speak to the press. And a team of Associated Press journalists was tailed by plainclothes police in multiple cars who blocked access to roads and sites in late November.” — The Associated Press

Before December 30, 2020, a bat research team visited the copper mine of China, only for their samples to be confiscated.

On January 28, 2021, Peter Ben Embarek’s team to Wuhan, China completed their 14 day quarantine and visited the Huanan seafood market, an animal disease research facility, the Center For Disease Control as well as a few hospitals.

“I would personally welcome any form of visit based on an open, transparent, trusting, reliable and reasonable dialogue. But the specific plan is not decided by me.” — Shi Zhengli

“Research into COVID-19’s origins is critical to the prevention of future pandemics. Although a World Health Organisation international team plans to visit China in early January to investigate what started the pandemic, its members and agenda had to be approved by China.” — The Associated Press

Before February 2021, Peter Daszak provided a conflict of interest statement to the World Health Organisation, but they confirmed that he should be on the team to visit the Wuhan Institute of Virology regardless.

On February 3, 2021, a team led by Peter Ben Embarek from the World Health Organisation, which included Peter Daszak, visited Wuhan, China and met with Wuhan Institute of Virology researchers for three hours.

“Peter Daszak, a team member and head of EcoHealth Alliance, a non-governmental organisation, told journalists the WHO experts were ‘asking all the questions that need to be asked’.” — The Financial Times

“Extremely important meeting today with staff at WIV including Dr Shi Zhengli. Frank, open discussion. Key questions asked & answered.” — Peter Daszak

“The WHO-led team that visited Wuhan early this year concluded in a joint report with Chinese experts in March that Covid-19 most likely moved from bats to humans, via another mammal, and ranked a laboratory leak at the bottom of its list.
The team, which spent three hours at the institute, had little to go on beyond assurances from the institute’s own staff, team members say. On the same day the report was released, Dr. Tedros said the team hadn’t adequately explored a potential lab origin.” — The Wall Street Journal

“The WHO-led team that visited didn’t ask to view the data, according to Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, a New York-based nonprofit, who was on the team. The database included information the WIV had gathered through work with EcoHealth Alliance, which was funded by the NIAID and collaborated with the WIV to study coronaviruses in bats. Dr. Daszak said earlier this year that because of his organisation’s work with the WIV, ‘we basically know’ what viruses were in the database, and none was closer to SARS-CoV-2 than RaTG13.” — The Wall Street Journal

“In the end, the team was unable to examine any of the Wuhan institute’s safety logs or records of testing on its staff. Team members said afterward that they still saw the visit as a useful exercise.” — The Wall Street Journal

Before January 2021, David Asher was selected to lead a team to investigate the origins of the coronavirus at the United States Department of State.

On January 15, 2021, the United States Department of State issued a fact sheet which stated that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick with the coronavirus and seasonal flu.

On March 8, 2021, Josh Rogin published the article “In 2018, Diplomats Warned of Risky Coronavirus Experiments in a Wuhan Lab. No One Listened.” in Politico.

On March 31, 2021, Peter Navarro described Anthony Fauci as the “father of the actual virus”.

Before May 23, 2021, a journalist for The Wall Street Journal attempted to visit the bat guano copper mine in southwestern China, only to be detained and questioned by police for five hours, and have photographs of the mine be deleted. Villagers informed the journalist that the mine was not to be spoken about.

“The remote district of Tongguan, in China’s south-western province of Yunnan, is hard to reach at the best of times. But when a BBC team tried to visit recently, it was impossible.
Plain-clothes police officers and other officials in unmarked cars followed us for miles along the narrow, bumpy roads, stopping when we did, backtracking with us when we were forced to turn around.
We found obstacles in our way, including a ‘broken down’ lorry, which locals confirmed had been placed across the road a few minutes before we arrived.
And we ran into checkpoints at which unidentified men told us their job was to keep us out.” — BBC News

On May 23, 2021, Michael R. Gordon, Warren P. Strobel and Drew Hinshaw published the article “Intelligence on Sick Staff at Wuhan Lab Fuels Debate on Covid-19 Origin” in The Wall Street Journal.

On May 24, 2021, Jeremy Page, Betsy McKay and Drew Hinshaw published the article “The Wuhan Lab Leak Question: A Disused Chinese Mine Takes Center Stage” in The Wall Street Journal.