One of China's top virologists, Shi Zhengli, denied conspiracy theories suggesting the COVID-19 virus originated from a Wuhan lab and that the country is involved in the spread of the pandemic.
The virologist is once again in the center of the discussions regarding the origin of the virus as various narratives look for evidence to support their stance. Many American politicians and scientists believe Zhengli is the key to discovering the true origin of the coronavirus and if it actually came out of a human lab in Wuhan. However, for the Chinese government, she is a hero who helped reduce the casualties of the COVID-19 virus.
True Origin of the Virus
United States President Joe Biden's administration recently refreshed scrutiny over the issue of COVID-19's origins and called for scientists to be more open about what information they know. The discussions have brought back talks about the lab leak theory.
While many scientists have a general consensus that the lab leak theory does not have enough evidence to support its claims, there are a few who say otherwise. They argue the possibility of the conspiracy was dismissed too quickly without a thorough investigation. They referenced a set of unsettling and unanswered questions regarding the incident.
Some scientists accuse Zhengli of conducting experiments that toyed with bat coronaviruses. Many others are demanding clarifications on American intelligence reports that claimed employees of the Wuhan Institute of Virology were affected by early infections of the COVID-19 virus as reported by the New York Times.
Zhengli has since denied the accusations, consequently defending her lab's reputation. Two weeks ago, the scientist said during a phone call that she was not ready to speak directly with reporters due to her institute's policies, with clear signs of frustration in her voice.
Innocent Scientist
During the brief conversation, she questioned how she could provide evidence for something that did not exist. One of her text messages noted the world's outrageous efforts to accuse a single innocent scientist of the problems of the pandemic.
Zhengli denounced the baseless suspicions in an email interview as well and denied allegations that some of her colleagues fell ill shortly before the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The major question many are asking is if the Wuhan lab contained crucial information regarding the source of the coronavirus, to which the scientist said no.
Additionally, investigators are demanding an inquiry into the role that science journals played in the coronavirus pandemic. Officials argued that many editors of influential journals rebuffed dozens of critical articles, raising the possibility of the COVID-19 being engineered.
Professor of Medicine at Australia' Flinders University, Nikolai Petrovsky, said the managers of the journals could have been trying to make favors with the Communist Party of China. He said most of their revenue was coming from them.
Petrovsky argued many papers that questioned the source of the coronavirus were rejected by Nature and Lancet editors and many others, the Voice of America reported.
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