An MIT/Harvard Scientist went before a panel of United Kingdom’s Members of Parliament (MPs) and asserted a Wuhan lab is likely the original source of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Harvard scientist Dr Alina Chan told the Science and Technology Select Committee that it is ‘reasonable’ to believe that Covid was genetically engineered in China.She also said that the Chinese Communist Party’s cover-up of the initial outbreak in Wuhan two years ago and attempts to sabotage the World Health Organisation’s inquiry into the origins of the pandemic made the lab-leak theory likely.Tory peer Lord Ridley, who has co-authored a book on the origin of the virus with Dr Chan, said the fact that experts have still not found the animal host that would support a natural origin despite two years of research supports claim that Covid came from a lab.
Dr Chan highlighted the virus’ unique feature, called the furin cleavage site, as being indicative of genetic modification of another virus.
“A proposal was leaked showing that EcoHealth and the Wuhan Institute of Virology were developing a pipeline for inserting novel furin cleavage sites. So, you find these scientists who said in early 2018 ‘I’m going to put horns on horses’ and at the end of 2019 a unicorn turns up in Wuhan city.”The furin cleavage point on Covid-19 is part of the spike protein which helps it to enter cells.Spike proteins are little grappling hooks which lock onto receptors on human cells. They have two sections, a binding section and a cell-entry section.Once attached, the virus makes use of the enzyme furin – which is present in human cells – to snip away the bound section, leaving a space for the cell-entry section of the spike protein to fuse with the cell membrane and get inside. It is the reason Covid-19 is so infectious.
Chan also indicated it was simply a matter of time before the true origins of COVID-19 would become known.
Right now it’s not safe for people who know about the origin of this pandemic to come forward. It might be five years from now, it might be 50 years from now, but we live in an era where there’s so much data being collected and stored…we just need a credible, systematic investigation, she said.
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