Federal COVID web sites now promote lab leak idea

The Trump administration has changed two main federal web sites for COVID info with a brand new web page that promotes the idea that the virus got here from a lab in China.

COVID.gov and COVIDtests.gov, which as soon as helped individuals order COVID exams and discover public well being info, now redirect to a brand new web page titled “Lab Leak.” The web page reveals a picture of President Donald Trump together with the phrases “the true origins of COVID-19.”

The brand new website claims the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the place COVID analysis had been ongoing. It raises considerations about lab security and references current CIA help for the lab leak idea, The New York Occasions reported.

However the website does not share key particulars corresponding to genetic knowledge from a Wuhan wild-animal market the place most of the first COVID instances had been discovered.

Many scientists and a number of other intelligence companies nonetheless consider the virus most probably jumped from animals to people on the market, a idea backed by genetics and patterns in early instances.

Some authorities companies, just like the FBI and Power Division, have expressed some help for the lab leak idea.

However others, together with 5 U.S. intelligence our bodies, nonetheless take into account pure animal-to-human unfold extra seemingly, The Occasions stated.

The CIA not too long ago shifted to supporting the lab idea, however with “low confidence” and no new proof.

The brand new web site additionally stated that some staff “had been sick with COVID-like signs within the fall of 2019.”

However a 2023 declassified report from the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence stated there was no signal that the Wuhan lab ever had the virus or one intently associated to it earlier than the outbreak.

The brand new web site additionally consists of inaccurate claims, corresponding to “the virus possesses a organic attribute that’s not present in nature.” The Occasions famous that this seems to be a reference to a function that helps the virus get inside cells, often known as the furin cleavage website.

Scientists say these options are present in different coronaviruses and will not be indicators of lab engineering, The Occasions reported.

In truth, researchers say a lab-made virus would seemingly lack that function totally.

The web site additionally assaults public well being figures like Dr. Anthony Fauci, former head of the Nationwide Institute of Allergy and Infectious Illness and presidential advisor, and criticizes pandemic security measures like lockdowns and sporting masks.

Researchers have proven that many early COVID sufferers lived close to the Wuhan market, and virus samples discovered there included genetic materials from animals like raccoon canine. This additional helps the thought of animal-to-human unfold.

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