Corona was a man-made virus, claims Wuhan lab scientist

New Delhi: A scientist who worked in Wuhan has claimed that corona was a man-made virus that leaked from the research lab.

Epidemiologist Andrew Huff is a US-based researcher who worked at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), a state-run and funded research facility. In his new book 'The Truth About Wuhan', he claimed that the pandemic was caused by the US government's funding of coronaviruses in China, reported The Sun.

Excerpts of the book were published by the UK-based tabloid.

The book further claims that China's gain-of-function experiments were conducted with inadequate security which led to a leak around two years ago at the Wuhan lab, reported New York Post. "Foreign laboratories did not have the adequate control measures in place for ensuring proper biosafety, biosecurity, and risk management, ultimately resulting in the lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology," wrote Huff in its book.

In the early days of the pandemic itself, many theorised that the virus leaked through an infected scientist or improper waste disposal from the Wuhan Lab. These claims were refuted by the Chinese government and WHO. Huff's claims back this theory.

The lab has been controversial since the pandemic broke out. Both the Chinese government and lab workers have been denying that the coronavirus originated there. However, Huff claims that China knew that coronavirus is a genetically engineered agent since the beginning. He added that the US government is responsible for transferring the dangerous biotechnology to China.

The scientist told The Sun that he was terrified to see that the US was handing over a bioweapon technology to the Chinese.

Andrew Huff is the former vice president of the NYC-based non-profit EcoHealth Alliance which studies infectious disease. It has also been building ties with the Wuhan lab for over 10 years to study coronaviruses in bats. The research has been getting funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) - America's primary agency for biomedical and public health research.

Huff worked at EcoHealth Alliance from 2014 to 2016 and said the organisation has been assisting the Wuhan lab to develop the "best existing methods to engineer bat coronaviruses to attack other species."

The official claim about the origin of coronavirus is that it came from a wet market in Wuhan. Dead meat of a bat or a pangolin is blamed for the pandemic but many have been questioning this theory. While WHO has been backing the wet market theory and opposing other claims, chairman Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus allegedly told a European politician that he feared that the lab must have been behind the leak in a "catastrophic accident."