by I. Edwards
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 folks 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 latest CIA help for the lab leak concept, The New York Instances reported.
However the website would not share key particulars comparable to genetic knowledge from a Wuhan wild-animal market the place most of the first COVID instances have been discovered.
Many scientists and several other intelligence businesses nonetheless imagine the virus almost definitely jumped from animals to people on the market, a concept backed by genetics and patterns in early instances.
Some authorities businesses, just like the FBI and Vitality Division, have expressed some help for the lab leak concept.
However others, together with 5 U.S. intelligence our bodies, nonetheless contemplate pure animal-to-human unfold extra possible, The Instances stated.
The CIA just lately shifted to supporting the lab concept, however with “low confidence” and no new proof.
The brand new web site additionally stated that some employees “have 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, comparable to “the virus possesses a organic attribute that isn’t present in nature.” The Instances famous that this seems to be a reference to a function that helps the virus get inside cells, often called the furin cleavage website.
Scientists say these options are present in different coronaviruses and usually are not indicators of lab engineering, The Instances reported.
In truth, researchers say a lab-made virus would possible lack that function solely.
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.
Extra info:
The Nationwide Institutes of Well being has extra on the origin of COVID.
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Federal COVID web sites now promote lab leak concept (2025, April 22)
retrieved 22 April 2025
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