WITH the outbreak of coronavirus now spreading beyond China’s borders, with 830 cases confirmed world-wide and 25 deaths so far, it has emerged Wuhan, where the disease was first spotted, is the site of a biosafety lab housing some of the world’s most deadly illnesses.
Indications are the bug originated in a seafood market as a result of close human contact with animals – but the presence of the laboratory, which celebrates its 5th anniversary next Friday, will raise eyebrows. The facility, described as China’s first high-level biosafety laboratory, opened in Wuhan, which has a population of 11 million and which is the capital of Hubei province, on January 31, 2015, after more than a decade of construction, according to a press release issued by the General Office of Hubei Provincial People’s Government at the time.
Pictures carried on the Government website featured staff, some clad in biohazard suits, at the new centre.
The lab is used to study class four pathogens (P4), referring to the most virulent viruses which pose a high risk of “aerosol-transmitted person-to-person infections”, the press release states.
Ciaran McGrath – Daily Express – Jan 24, 2020.