Leaked Emails Show Wuhan Labs Using Lao Bat Virus That Is Nearly Identical to COVID-19
Banal-52, a Lao bat virus, shares 96.8 percent of its genome with Sars-Cov-2.
Newly leaked emails from the U.S. government indicate that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was studying coronaviruses found in bats from Laos in the months before the pandemic.
This revelation indicates that a lab-leak origin for SARS-Cov-2 virus (the pathogen causing COVID-19) is a strong possibility.
In September, scientists discovered Banal-52, a coronavirus found in Lao bats, which shares 96.8 percent of its genome with Sars-Cov-2.
The striking similarity between the two coronaviruses led scientists to speculate that the Lao bat strain could have somehow given rise to Sars-Cov-2.
But there was one glaring problem: how could a virus originating in bats living in Laos spark an outbreak in Wuhan over 1000 miles away?
That puzzle might now have been solved, as leaked emails between EcoHealth Alliance and US government funders reveal viral samples from Lao bats were being collected and sent for study in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Back in September, Nature published news of the Laos bat virus discovery, pushing it as proof of its “natural origin”. Yet, a few critical aspects were suggestive of lab manipulation.
The Laos study offers insight into the origins of the pandemic, but there are still missing links, say researchers. For example, the Laos viruses don’t contain the so-called furin cleavage site on the spike protein that further aids the entry of SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses into human cells.
The study also doesn’t clarify how a progenitor of the virus could have travelled to Wuhan, in central China, where the first known cases of COVID-19 were identified — or whether the virus hitched a ride on an intermediate animal.
It appears that the virus did hitch a ride on an intermediate animal…in the form of human researcher.
Gilles Demaneuf, a New Zealand-based data scientist, notes that the new evidence provides a “plausible” route for the viral spread from Laos bats to people in Wuhan.
“Now we have a very plausible direct route with two options,” wrote Demaneuf, also a member of the pandemic-origins research group DRASTIC, in a blogpost.
DRASTIC stands for ‘decentralised radical autonomous search team investigating Covid-19’. It has set itself the mission of exploring the origins of SARS-CoV-2.
“Number one, a Wuhan bat sampler infected on a field sampling trip. Number two, a research accident in Wuhan when manipulating a Laos Banal-like bat coronavirus,” Demaneuf said.
However, records of the genetic sequences collected from both Yunnan and Laos were removed from an online database at the Wuhan institute in September 2019, just months before the pandemic struck the world, making it difficult for the experts searching the origins of the pandemic.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
“Lao Bat virus nearly identical to COVOD-19”
You mean the bat virus in Wuhan is nearly identical to bat virus in the USA?
Wow! I woud never have guessed in a million years. But of course it’s just a coincidence. Doesn’t mean a thing.
I think you missed the point. COVID-19, which hit Wuhan civilians first, actually came from Laotian bats. They didn’t fly all the way there.
Even the bat that they initially claimed was the source of the outbreak in the so-called ‘wet market’ theory lived no closer than – wait for it – 1,000 miles from Wuhan.
Unless that bat or this Laotian bats have great frequently flyer rewards points on China air, that virus was clearly harvested from bats that aren’t anywhere near Wuhan.
Well, the article says the bat virus came from the Wuhan lab. And wonder of wonders, it spread from there to America quicker than you could pull out your trusty old mare’s leg and say bang.
“This revelation indicates that a lab-leak origin for SARS-Cov-2 virus (the pathogen causing COVID-19) is a strong possibility.”
Let us know when it rises to the same possibility as the rumors of Clinton getting intern service in the Oval Office.
It took a full five years after losing before Hillary read her victory speech.* It will take longer than that before Fauci reads his Wuhan Lab Leak Admission speech.
*(you will have to explain to me why someone reads a victory speech after losing).
“If there is an outbreak of chocolatey goodness in Hershey Pennsylvania, I might suspect it came from the Hershey Chocolate Plant.
If there is an outbreak of SARS-COVID2 virus in Wuhan China, I might suspect the WUHAN SARS-COVID2 VIRUS LAB. ”
Jon Stuwart
I’ve been in science for about two decades now. You don’t just delete data…ever. That’s a nono in science with even lower grade implications for a lack of integrity. In a high BSL lab, that is prosecutable and with big teeth on the punishment.
This is a clear implication of guilt.
It’s accecptable when you are covering your tracks and don’t want to be caught
A 96% similarity sounds like a lot, but remember that Humans and Chimpanzees share 96% similarity in their genetics.
https://www.genome.gov/15515096/2005-release-new-genome-comparison-finds-chimps-humans-very-similar-at-dna-level
Maybe this is a lot bigger of a deal on the scale of a virus’s genetic code, but this may not be quite as big of a match as it seems.
I don’t trust the CCP bioweapons labs, and I’m pretty sure they had something to do with the wuhan flu… but I don’t think that 96% similarity to a different strain is quite the smoking gun that it sounds like.
True, but somewhere out there is a virus that is most closely related to SARS-C0V-2. Others, with somewhat less similarity, have been touted as the possible source of the Wuhan virus, but they couldn’t be linked to Wuhan. However, they were touted, in part, to deflect attention from the WIV. The Lao virus is not only the most similar virus to SARS-CoV-2 yet discovered, it’s also linked to the WIV, making it the current best contender as a Wuhan virus antecessor yet found.
Also, a virus’s genetic code is much smaller than those of even lower animals or bacteria. A 4% difference between humans and chimps is a lot more individual nucleotide differences in DNA than a 4% difference between viruses. Imagine two viruses, each with just two nucleotides. If they have one nucleotide in common, that’s a 50% difference, but it’s also a difference of only one nucleotide. (This is not a realistic example, but given just to demonstrate the principle.)
This is not an accurate comparison.
Humans and Chimpanzees are actually 99% btw, but the reason for that close match is the highly conserved genetic code required for living beings to have a workable energy metabolism, build an organized cells/tissues/organs/systems/organism hierarchy, possess the ability to reproduce sexually, grow a certain similar body plan, etc. etc. We’re also 90% similar to most rodents and 50% similar to a fruit fly.
For viruses, the lack of a living system means that there is more variety among sequences because conserved plans are not required to manifest a structure that is not bound by the tenets of a living organism.
As a matter of perspective, here is a paper in the Lancet comparing the genetic similarity of SARS, MERS, and COVID-19.
COVID 19 is only 79 percent similar to SARS and only 50 percent similar to MERS and keep in mind that both have spike proteins and are also coronaviruses.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30251-8/fulltext
So, yes this 96% similarity is a VERY BIG DEAL
No need to worry. Vice-President Biden just ordered all US diplomats to boycott the Genocide Olympics. Winnie the Pooh already flinched with a nervous “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Big deal! You’re not invited!”
That’ll learn them.
At this point, I don’t think it’s entirely beyond belief that whatever China did, they may have done it with the knowledge – perhaps even direct support – of elements of the US government.
Fauci and his minions DESPERATELY wanted to advance the prospects of their novel vaccine technology known as mRNA. Fauci is on record at a medical forum lamenting the fact that they have had the opportunity to use mRNA in a meaningful way. That was roughly a year or two before Wuhan….a city that is home to a lab that was funded by Fauci.
For big government progressive – like Fauci – COVID sure did solve a LOT of their problems. If you look at COVID and say ‘cui bo·no?’ Fauci et al. benefit most. It opened the door to mRNA, increased their funding AND POWER in exponential ways and – here’s the important one – was instrumental in getting rid of Trump. And all they had to give up for all of it was some old people who already had one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel.
All paths lead to Fauci intentionally funding the creation of a deadly disease. And basically showing the CCP how to create a bioweapon.
Oh noes! Let us all keep believing in the Pangolin-Bat-Wuhan-Fauci-Covid-Alpha-Beta-Gamma-Delta-Epsilon-Zeta-Eta-Theta-Iota-Kappa-Lambda-Mu-blank-blank-Omicron-Virus is real!
But remember, don’t take the Gain of Function SPIKE PROTEIN Gene Therapy Jab for the REAL Pangolin-Bat-Wuhan-Fauci-Covid-Alpha-Beta-Gamma-Delta-Epsilon-Zeta-Eta-Theta-Iota-Kappa-Lambda-Mu-blank-blank-Omicron-Virus!
Ya know, I predicted on my blog long before they released the “Covid-Jab” on the public that they would not be the last of the Jabs, that they were the cornerstone, the foundation, of which all other “Covid-Jabs” would be built upon. And here we are.
It’s all been so predictable.
I am waiting for the Omicron-Delta-Phi recombinant variant, that will be indistinguishable from a college fraternity name.
This story is old news. Yes, we know WIV was sampling bat viruses throughout Southeast Asia. We also know that SARS2 escaped the WIV in late 2019, either accidentally or deliberately. What we don’t know is (1) What was the WIV trying to do with the viruses that it was manipulating? What were the program goals? What was the intended function of the various bits of code that were being strung together/inserted, or was it created by serial passage in animals? (2) Was the release accidental? (3) If it wasn’t an accident, was it ordered by Peter Daszak, or did Xi Jinping order it as a Hail-Mary play to create a global pandemic to stop Trump’s reelection.
This is not “old news”….suspicions might be old, data and evidence made available to the public are always welcomed (especially when it can be shoved in the face of the shouters that try to deflect your valid suspicions with shouts of “xenophobe” and “tin foil enthusiast)