Reports indicate that U.S. intelligence agencies have unlocked “a treasure trove” of genetic data on the viruses being studied at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which timeline analysis suggests is the point source of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The information could be key to uncovering the origins of the coronavirus.
This giant catalog of information contains genetic blueprints drawn from virus samples studied at the lab in Wuhan, China which some officials believe may have been the source of the Covid-19 outbreak, multiple people familiar with the matter tell CNN.It’s unclear exactly how or when US intelligence agencies gained access to the information, but the machines involved in creating and processing this kind of genetic data from viruses are typically connected to external cloud-based servers — leaving open the possibility they were hacked, sources said.Still, translating this mountain of raw data into usable information — which is only one part of the intelligence community’s 90-day push to uncover the pandemic’s origins — presents a range of challenges, including harnessing enough computing power to process it all. To do that, intelligence agencies are relying on supercomputers at the Department of Energy’s National Labs, a collection of 17 elite government research institutions.
The hard part is translating all the information. Not only is the material in complex biological terms, but everything is in Chinese.
Investigators hope the data can fill-in the timeline further, especially ahead of the COVID-19 origin report requested by Biden.
Since viruses evolve over time, scientists can map and track mutations in their genome to determine when and where they emerged. The data recovered by the University of Washington scientist, Dr. Jesse Bloom, suggests that COVID-19 was circulating before the outbreak associated with the Huanan seafood market, which some Chinese scientists have cited as the origin of the virus. The new data is also expected to aid in this effort, although it is unclear how intelligence officials accessed it….The new data analysis will not be able to fully prove whether or not COVID-19 leaked from WIV, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN. However, the analysis will be able to help scientists and intelligence officials construct “a narrative of the origins of SARS-COVID,” one source said.
Meanwhile, the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s “Bat Woman” is ginning-up more panic in the West with the promise of more variants.
Virologist Shi Zhengli gave the dire proclamation to state-run media this week as she joined calls for people to get vaccinated, according to the South Morning China Post (SCMP).“As the number of infected cases has just become too big, this allowed the novel coronavirus more opportunities to mutate and select,” Shi told Health Times under the state-run People’s Daily, SCMP said.“New variants will continue to emerge,” Shi warned.
I also made my own prediction based on the global pandemic of 1889, likely caused by a coronavirus, that we are going to see six years of “waves” before population immunity is developed to the point the virus joins the others causing common colds today. Of course, my prognostication doesn’t have the same panic-inducing effect.
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