Virus accidentally released from lab ?

[Mr. Bill]

One thing no-one has done so far is point out who funded this research.

Found it, at the bottom of the paper.

Journal of Proteome Research, 3/22/20: Protein Structure and Sequence Reanalysis of 2019-nCoV Genome Refutes Snakes as Its Intermediate Host and the Unique Similarity between Its Spike Protein Insertions and HIV-1

This work used the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (ACI1548562). This work is supported in part by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (GM083107, GM116960), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (AI134678), and the National Science Foundation (DBI1564756, IIS1901191).

All 5 authors are at the University of Michigan.

I haven't read the paper yet, but here's the abstract:

As the infection of 2019-nCoV coronavirus is quickly developing into a global pneumonia epidemic, the careful analysis of its transmission and cellular mechanisms is sorely needed. In this Communication, we first analyzed two recent studies that concluded that snakes are the intermediate hosts of 2019-nCoV and that the 2019-nCoV spike protein insertions share a unique similarity to HIV-1. However, the reimplementation of the analyses, built on larger scale data sets using state-of-the-art bioinformatics methods and databases, presents clear evidence that rebuts these conclusions. Next, using metagenomic samples from Manis javanica, we assembled a draft genome of the 2019-nCoV-like coronavirus, which shows 73% coverage and 91% sequence identity to the 2019-nCoV genome. In particular, the alignments of the spike surface glycoprotein receptor binding domain revealed four times more variations in the bat coronavirus RaTG13 than in the Manis coronavirus compared with 2019-nCoV, suggesting the pangolin as a missing link in the transmission of 2019-nCoV from bats to human.

[iam4liberty]

Found it, at the bottom of the paper.

Journal of Proteome Research, 3/22/20: Protein Structure and Sequence Reanalysis of 2019-nCoV Genome Refutes Snakes as Its Intermediate Host and the Unique Similarity between Its Spike Protein Insertions and HIV-1

All 5 authors are at the University of Michigan.

I haven't read the paper yet, but here's the abstract:

The link to the new paper is below.  It contains authors and affiliations.  But funding is not disclosed.  From the affiliations we can probably make a pretty good assumption. 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2169-0
Identifying SARS-CoV-2 related coronaviruses in Malayan pangolins

Affiliations
Joint Institute of Virology (Shantou University / The University of Hong Kong) & Guangdong-Hongkong Joint Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong, 515063, P. R. China
Tommy Tsan-Yuk Lam, Hua-Chen Zhu & Yi Guan

State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China
Tommy Tsan-Yuk Lam, Marcus Ho-Hin Shum, Hua-Chen Zhu, Xue-Bing Ni, Yun-Shi Liao, William Yiu-Man Cheung, Gabriel M. Leung & Yi Guan
Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering (BAIC-SM), College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, P. R. China
Yi-Gang Tong & Wen-Juan Li

Life Sciences Institute, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, 530021, P. R. China
Wei Wei & Yan-Ling Hu

Center for Genomic and Personalized Medicine, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, 530021, P. R. China
Yan-Ling Hu

School of Information and Management, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, 530021, P. R. China
Lian-Feng Li

Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, School of Life and Environmental Sciences and School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Edward C. Holmes

[Mr. Bill]

Ah, looks like the article I found was entirely separate from the article you were referring to.  My oops.

So we've got two totally separate groups of researchers, one entirely US-based and US-funded, who are both pointing at the pangolin as a possible intermediary.

[iam4liberty]

Ah, looks like the article I found was entirely separate from the article you were referring to.  My oops.

So we've got two totally separate groups of researchers, one entirely US-based and US-funded, who are both pointing at the pangolin as a possible intermediary.

There are a half dozen, seemingly well funded groups all trying to show Covid-19 originated in anteaters.  All have failed. In fact, no animal stock has ever been identified of any type of species.

But as shown in previously posted research above, it is proven almost identical (97%+) to previous published bat coronavirus from Wuhan lab with the insertions enabling it to infect humans being the primary difference.

Any way you slice it, the evidence is strong it jumped directly from bats to humans.  How this occured is unclear. But this destroys Wuhan Seafood market story as bats werent sold there and none were found.  So the search and funding go on.

[Mr. Bill]

Any way you slice it, the evidence is strong it jumped directly from bats to humans.

I'm reading it differently than you are, but I'm having a hard time keeping up with news right now because of other non-coronavirus chaos in my life.

In any case, the virus certainly went from bat to human by way of somehow or other.  I think there are only three plausible ways:

• The virus arose naturally in the wild (maybe via pangolins, maybe not, or maybe via several different animals), and passed directly from animals to humans.  There is adequate evidence that this could have happened, but no proof that it did happen.
• The virus arose naturally in the wild, was collected by the lab for study, and escaped from the lab.
• The lab, in the course of experiments to learn whether a dangerous coronavirus could arise naturally, created this virus artificially, and it escaped from the lab.

I don't think we're going to find out which is true anytime soon.  China either does not want us to know, or is doing an amazing job of not finding out.

It's not plausible that the virus was created as a military bioweapon, because it doesn't act at all the way a useful military bioweapon would act.

It's not plausible that it was created as a global depopulation weapon, unless you believe in Dark Forces that will somehow benefit from throwing the entire world into Great Depression 2.  I know some forum members believe this anyway, but I will say bluntly that the idea is crazy.  Ming the Merciless is a fictional character.

None of this really changes the current situation.  We're learning the characteristics of the virus, regardless of how it came into existence, and we have to deal with the fact that it is now spread all over the planet.

[FreeLancer]

It's like arguing on the Titanic about whether you're sinking because of the hull's metallurgical defects or from running full steam into an iceberg.

[Hurricane]

I have seen the references to pangolins, but didn't know what they were. Looked them up on wikipedia. They are scaly anteaters.
Found this, emphasis mine:

Pangolins are threatened by poaching (for their meat and scales, which are used in Chinese traditional medicine for a variety of ailments including excessive anxiety and hysterical crying in children, women thought to be possessed by devils and ogres, malarial fever, and deafness)

Somewhat ironic since we are using anti-malaria drugs to battle this virus.
Maybe we need a little "hair-of-the-dog" ??

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangolin

[surfivor]

I'm reading it differently than you are, but I'm having a hard time keeping up with news right now because of other non-coronavirus chaos in my life.

In any case, the virus certainly went from bat to human by way of somehow or other.  I think there are only three plausible ways:

• The virus arose naturally in the wild (maybe via pangolins, maybe not, or maybe via several different animals), and passed directly from animals to humans.  There is adequate evidence that this could have happened, but no proof that it did happen.
• The virus arose naturally in the wild, was collected by the lab for study, and escaped from the lab.
• The lab, in the course of experiments to learn whether a dangerous coronavirus could arise naturally, created this virus artificially, and it escaped from the lab.

I don't think we're going to find out which is true anytime soon.  China either does not want us to know, or is doing an amazing job of not finding out.

It's not plausible that the virus was created as a military bioweapon, because it doesn't act at all the way a useful military bioweapon would act.

It's not plausible that it was created as a global depopulation weapon, unless you believe in Dark Forces that will somehow benefit from throwing the entire world into Great Depression 2.  I know some forum members believe this anyway, but I will say bluntly that the idea is crazy.  Ming the Merciless is a fictional character.

None of this really changes the current situation.  We're learning the characteristics of the virus, regardless of how it came into existence, and we have to deal with the fact that it is now spread all over the planet.

That’s like saying US banks and corporations would fund the enemy like the Nazis or the US would fund a supposed enemy like ISIS or the Rothschilds would fund both sides of various wars but wait .. that’s what they all did plus all the quotes and objectives of eugenics.

WWI was another conflict that made little sense other than wars help to reduce the population (and gain some power for certain elite classes ). That’s exactly what some satanist told me once what he believed. When you look at it that way, you can make some sense out of history otherwise it really makes no sense at all

[iam4liberty]

"Don't worry about the source" has been the main talking point of China's communist party.  Everything is focussed on that for dual purpose of shedding responsiblity and maintaining these capabilities. 

It is just like Chernobyl.  Don't worry about reactor designs and deficient protocols.  Just take your thyroid pills while we throw some engineers at the "elephants foot" (all of whom will die).  And make sure to lock down the citizens so they can't talk to the press; it would hurt our international reputation if people found out what really happened and how likely it is to happen again

The international science communuty didn't let the Russians get  away with it then and we aren't going to let the Chinese get away with it now, no matter how many shills they buy or people they influence through their propaganda.

[Mr. Bill]

I am worried about the source.  Everyone with a brain is worried about the source.  But it doesn't change what we need to be doing right now to protect ourselves from a virus that is already far removed from the source, and present essentially everywhere.

[iam4liberty]

Nothing to see here.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/border-patrol-stopped-a-chinese-biologist-carrying-viable-sars-mers-viruses-at-detroit-airport-in-2018/amp/
Border Patrol Stopped a Chinese Biologist Carrying Viable SARS, MERS Viruses at Detroit Airport in 2018

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Detroit Metro Airport stopped a Chinese scientist carrying vials believed to contain the MERS and SARS viruses in November 2018 — just over a year before the first reported Wuhan coronavirus case, according to an FBI tactical intelligence report obtained by Yahoo News.

“Inspection of the writing on the vials and the stated recipient led inspection personnel to believe the materials contained within the vials may be viable Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) materials,” the report reads. The vials were labeled “Antibodies”, and the unnamed scientist said he was asked to deliver them to a researcher at a U.S. institute.

The report also lays out a pattern of Chinese interference, detailing two other cases from May 2018 and September 2019, in which different Chinese nationals tried to enter the U.S. with undeclared flu strains and suspected E. coli, respectively.
...
The FBI has stepped up its efforts to combat Chinese espionage operations in recent months after admitting failures in preventing the recruitment of U.S. researchers by Beijing’s “Thousand Talents Plan.”

[surfivor]

If we don’t worry about the source and it came from a lab then it will probably happen again and be worse the next time and the next time won’t be too far off

[surfivor]

It’s just blatantly unacceptable on so many levels that regardless of how the outbreak started, the system doesn’t really care because it means more for the medicine based economy and excuses to run people’s lives. No way does this fly sorry. Something has to be done, shut down bio weapons research AND wet markets and especially if you can’t demonstrate a capability to  investigate it

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.jpost.com/international/report-wet-markets-in-china-still-operating-despite-coronavirus-outbreak-622917/amp

Australian-based news outlet news.com.au has reported that thousands have begun flocking back to wet markets across China in places such as Dongguan and Guilin, despite these markets being considered ground zero for coronavirus outbreaks.

[ChEng]

... shut down bio weapons research ...

Terrible idea! Offense and defense are opposite sides of the same coin. Without bio-weapons research, we are doomed to subjugation by whatever psycho despot is willing to attack us. Without bio-weapons research, we have no defense to that kind of weapon.

[Prepper456]

It’s just blatantly unacceptable on so many levels that regardless of how the outbreak started, the system doesn’t really care...

Something has to be done, shut down... (etc)

Australian-based news outlet news.com.au has reported that thousands have begun flocking back to wet markets

yesterday werent you against social distancing? and not caring about self isolating?

[surfivor]

Terrible idea! Offense and defense are opposite sides of the same coin. Without bio-weapons research, we are doomed to subjugation by whatever psycho despot is willing to attack us. Without bio-weapons research, we have no defense to that kind of weapon.

They claim everything is defense, that’s why they changed the war department to the department of defense. It’s the same thing, it just sounds better. I think the US and western nations has produced more weapons of every sort and spread them around the world selling them to to nearly everyone. Bio weapons are much more dangerous. However, I am saying if you can’t investigate what happened in a satisfactory manner then they should be banned. There was never a proper investigation of 911 either, spirko agrees and the 911 commission said so themselves.

So they are keeping us safe is just a claim. I am not convinced one bit. I think it is more dangerous to our country

Not only that but intelligence agencies should be capable of determining what other countries are doing and what sort of weapons are being developed. Instead we have a  horrible and lousy deep state, not everyone in there but the CIA and FBI have the worst track record and have been working against our president and are unamerican to the core. These are the people that are supposed to have our countries interest but I have absolutely zero faith in them and whatever secret stuff they are up to seems to be no good

We’ve also given or allowrd communist China to have all manner of military and technological secrets so there’s tons of reasons to be cynical (or realistic)

Anthrax was sent to congress after 911. Did it come from some rogue state like Iran ? No it came from a US weapons lab. The FBI was never able to solve that one after they accused two people falsely. SARS has escaped from weapons labs twice in China already. There is numerous evidence of careless handling of bio weapons

We have been giving China, a communist state bio weapon technology, but then China is not our enemy just another communist country running slave camps, oppressing and murdering people just like communist countries have always done

[surfivor]

yesterday werent you against social distancing? and not caring about self isolating?

That’s quite different than claiming that the outbreak stared in a food market because people ate bats and snakes and then ignoring it and then letting it continue.

[surfivor]

https://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0908-08.htm

THE US and Britain sold Saddam Hussein the technology and materials Iraq needed to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.

Reports by the US Senate's committee on banking, housing and urban affairs -- which oversees American exports policy -- reveal that the US, under the successive administrations of Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr, sold materials including anthrax, VX nerve gas, West Nile fever germs and botulism to Iraq right up until March 1992, as well as germs similar to tuberculosis and pneumonia. Other bacteria sold included brucella melitensis, which damages major organs, and clostridium perfringens, which causes gas gangrene.

[iam4liberty]

Nothing to see here.  Move on.

https://nypost.com/2020/04/01/whistleblowing-coronavirus-doctor-mysteriously-vanishes/amp/
Whistleblowing coronavirus doctor at Wuhan hospital mysteriously vanishes

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/dr-birx-claims-u-s-was-slow-to-respond-to-coronavirus-outbreak-because-china-withheld-a-significant-amount-of-data/
Dr. Birx Claims U.S. Was Slow to Respond to Coronavirus Outbreak Because China Withheld a ‘Significant Amount of Data’

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/04/01/coronavirus-china-hid-extent-of-outbreak-us-intelligence-reportedly-says.html
China hid extent of coronavirus outbreak, US intelligence reportedly says

[Prepper456]

Dr. Birx Claims U.S. Was Slow to Respond to Coronavirus Outbreak Because China Withheld a ‘Significant Amount of Data’

China hid extent of coronavirus outbreak, US intelligence reportedly says

U.S. intelligence agencies were issuing ominous, classified warnings in January and February about the global danger posed by the coronavirus while President Trump and lawmakers played down the threat and failed to take action that might have slowed the spread of the pathogen, according to U.S. officials familiar with spy agency reporting.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-intelligence-reports-from-january-and-february-warned-about-a-likely-pandemic/2020/03/20/299d8cda-6ad5-11ea-b5f1-a5a804158597_story.html


Trump on Tuesday said he knew from the start that thousands of Americans could die from the novel coronavirus but downplayed the threat

At Tuesday's White House press briefing, Trump was asked whether he lulled Americans into a false sense of security by telling the public that the virus would go away quickly, even as it was clear the number of cases and death toll were on the rise.

"I knew everything. I knew it could be horrible, I knew it could be maybe good," Trump said.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/trump-admits-downplayed-coronavirus-i-knew-it-could-be-horrible-2020-3%3famp

[iam4liberty]

China has purged all research of Wuhan bat virus researcher who brought bat viruses to Wuhan and experimented on them just outside the market.  China has refused to allow international scientists from reviewing lab notes or samples.  He is now also missing.

https://amp.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/mar/30/china-researchers-isolated-bat-coronaviruses-near-/
Chinese researchers isolated deadly bat coronaviruses near Wuhan animal market

Chinese government researchers isolated more than 2,000 new viruses, including deadly bat coronaviruses, and carried out scientific work on them just three miles from a wild animal market identified as the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several Chinese state media outlets in recent months touted the virus research and lionized in particular a key researcher in Wuhan, Tian Junhua, as a leader in bat virus work.
...
Reports of the extensive Chinese research on bat viruses likely will fuel more calls for Beijing to make public what it knows about such work.
...
“This is one of the worst cover-ups in human history, and now the world is facing a global pandemic,” Rep. Michael T. McCaul, Texas Republican and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said last week. Mr. McCaul has said China should be held accountable for the pandemic.

A video posted online in December and funded by the Chinese government shows Mr. Tian inside caves in Hubei province taking samples from captured bats and storing them in vials.
...
Chinese officials refused to provide samples of its coronavirus strains to U.S. researchers shortly after the outbreak became public and did not allow international disease specialists to visit Wuhan for weeks.
...
The seven-minute film boasts that China has “taken the lead” in global virus research and uncovered over 2,000 viruses in the past 12 years, the time since the outbreak of the bat-origin virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

The deadly virus behind the current pandemic is called SARS Coronavirus-2 and also has been traced to bats.
...
Chinese state media outlets revealed that Mr. Tian once failed to wear protective gear in a cave and as a result came into contact with bat urine. To avoid contracting a disease, he self-quarantined for 14 days — the same recommended period for people exposed to the new COVID-19 strain.
...
Mr. Tian has gathered thousands of bats for research work on bat viruses since 2012.

“Bats have a large number of unknown viruses on their bodies,” he said. “The more thorough our research on bats is, the better it will be for human health.
...
The Wuhan report said the collection of research samples was difficult, dangerous and hard to fund.
....
A search of the Wuhan CDC website since the novel coronavirus outbreak contains no reference to Mr. Tian or his work. He has co-authored at least two scientific studies on the Wuhan virus and its impact.

Efforts to reach Mr. Tian were not successful.

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not return an email seeking comment.

U.S. concerns

A State Department official said the reports about Mr. Tian and his role in working with bat viruses are concerning.

“He lives and works at Wuhan’s CDC, a few hundred yards away from the Huanan wet market,” the official said. “He is among the small team in Wuhan that has contributed to China’s obsession in recent years with virus hunting and research.”]
...
Biosecurity researcher Richard Ebright, a Rutgers University professor at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology, said the coronavirus behind the pandemic is 96.2% similar to a bat virus discovered by the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2013 and studied at the Wuhan CDC. The virus could have jumped naturally from animal to human but also could have escaped from the lab, he said.
...
Mr. Ebright said the Chinese video shows Wuhan CDC workers under Mr. Tian’s direction with inadequate personal protective equipment and unsafe practices, including exposed faces and wrists and a lack of goggles or face shields
...
“They write about collecting SARS-like coronaviruses from horseshoe bats and proving that, like the SARS virus itself, some of these other naturally occurring coronaviruses could infect human beings directly,” Mr. Mosher said. “They write about genetically engineering new and deadly viruses capable of infecting human lung tissue — just like the Wuhan flu does.”
...
“China claims that the deadly virus did not escape from its biolab,” Mr. Mosher said. “Fine. Prove it by releasing the research records of the Wuhan lab.”

[CandyGram4Mongo]

Excellent yt video about origins in the Wuhan lab.  He steps through a timeline showing the trail of breadcrumbs along the way.
https://youtu.be/bpQFCcSI0pU

h/t to the feral irishman

[LvsChant]

Interesting article: https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-china-trail-leading-back-to-wuhan-labs/

H/T Stefan Molyneaux

[iam4liberty]

Pretty much every government believes this now.  But it seems to take high level politicians getting ill for them to act on it.

https://news.yahoo.com/boris-johnsons-government-reportedly-believes-115000701.html
Boris Johnson's government reportedly believes the coronavirus may have accidentally leaked from a Chinese laboratory

The UK government believes the coronavirus may have accidentally leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan where Chinese scientists were researching the virus, according to a Mail on Sunday newspaper report.
...
The reports come as Prime Minister Johnson is admitted to hospital for "persistent symptoms" of the coronavirus.

Johnson was admitted to a London hospital on Sunday where he received oxygen treatment and remained for tests on Monday.
...
A report by the UK Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee published on Monday accused the Chinese government of spreading "disinformation" about the spread of the virus.

"Disinformation about COVID-19 has already cost lives," the committee found.

"It is essential that the Government issues clear and transparent messages at home to confront and rebut disinformation spread by foreign powers."

[iam4liberty]

Top trending video on youtube: from Sky News Australia.  Guess the bat is out of the bag.

https://youtu.be/CIHWaaJNktQ
Evidence mounts COVID-19 came from a lab in Wuhan
570,640 views

[Mr. Bill]

US intelligence knew about the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in late November.

ABC, 4/8/20: Intelligence report warned of coronavirus crisis as early as November: Sources

As far back as late November, U.S. intelligence officials were warning that a contagion was sweeping through China’s Wuhan region, changing the patterns of life and business and posing a threat to the population, according to four sources briefed on the secret reporting.

Concerns about what is now known to be the novel coronavirus pandemic were detailed in a November intelligence report by the military's National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI), according to two officials familiar with the document’s contents.

The report was the result of analysis of wire and computer intercepts, coupled with satellite images. ...

"Analysts concluded it could be a cataclysmic event," one of the sources said of the NCMI’s report. "It was then briefed multiple times to" the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s Joint Staff and the White House. ...

From that warning in November, the sources described repeated briefings through December for policy-makers and decision-makers across the federal government as well as the National Security Council at the White House. All of that culminated with a detailed explanation of the problem that appeared in the President’s Daily Brief of intelligence matters in early January, the sources said. For something to have appeared in the PDB, it would have had to go through weeks of vetting and analysis, according to people who have worked on presidential briefings in both Republican and Democratic administrations. ...

[iam4liberty]

US intelligence knew about the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in late November.

ABC, 4/8/20: Intelligence report warned of coronavirus crisis as early as November: Sources

Pentagon denies report:

A defense official denied any such report existed, telling CNN, "NCMI and the Defense Intelligence Agency spent considerable time over the last 24 hours examining every possible product that could have been identified as related to this topic and have found no such product."

The Pentagon also issued a statement denying the ABC News report late Wednesday.

"As a matter of practice the National Center for Medical Intelligence does not comment publicly on specific intelligence matters. However, in the interest of transparency during this current public health crisis, we can confirm that media reporting about the existence/release of a National Center for Medical Intelligence Coronavirus-related product/assessment in November of 2019 is not correct. No such NCMI product exists," Colonel Dr. R. Shane Day, director of the National Center for Medical Intelligence, said.

[Mr. Bill]

Great, so now we've merely confirmed that somebody is lying on one side or the other.  Another typical day in DC.

[iam4liberty]

Great, so now we've merely confirmed that somebody is lying on one side or the other.  Another typical day in DC.

Both may be mostly correct.  That is, they may have known something was going on in late November but it didnt make it into the report then because they didnt know what it was.  It may be the case that this November info then began push up the chain in an early December report. 

[iam4liberty]

Reports now coming out that communists in WHO blocked travel ban called for by doctors in alignment with protocols. 

https://youtu.be/FIVT5sg0bfE
World Health Organisation 'blocked' travel ban calls from experts over COVID-19