According to a memo obtained by Bloomberg News, the Biden administration blocked the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s access to federal funding because it did not give the organization the necessary documentation about safety and security measures. The Department of Health and Human Services reportedly informed the Wuhan Institute on Monday of the suspension and that it intended to permanently cut off the lab, according to the memo.
The facility in Wuhan emerged as a key debate point regarding the origins of the coronavirus
The facility in Wuhan, where Covid initially arose, was suspected of violating biosafety norms and of not being in compliance with US rules, according to a review that HHS launched in September of last year. “This action will ensure the [Wuhan Institute of Virology] does not receive another dollar of federal funding,” the report quoted a department spokesperson as saying in a statement.
Since July 2020, the lab has not received any funding from the National Institutes of Health. The facility has emerged as a key debate point regarding the origins of the coronavirus epidemic, which resulted in the deaths of up to 7 million people worldwide. Some officials, including FBI Director Christopher Wray, believe that the facility may have been the virus’s likely source of origin. A spokeswoman for the US stated on Monday that the Wuhan lab has not yet responded to federal authorities following the US decision to reduce future funding, which includes new contracts, grants, and other transactions.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, experts have criticized Beijing for its questionable pandemic data
The NIH granted EcoHealth Alliance, a US-based organization dedicated to the prevention of infectious diseases, a grant in 2014 for the purpose of “Understanding the risk of bat coronavirus emergence.” The award was given to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and EcoHealth Alliance also provided the lab with funding from the US Agency for International Development. China has come under renewed criticism for how it plans to handle data related to the coronavirus (COVID-19). (emdrprofessionaltraining.com) According to a Financial Times story, one of the country’s most populated provinces removed mortality data that showed the significant death toll brought on by Beijing’s relaxation of Covid rules at the end of the previous year.
According to a report from FT on Tuesday (July 18), Zhejiang province’s figures, which were made public on Thursday, showed that the number of cremations in the affluent coastal region during the first quarter of the year increased by 73% from a year earlier to 171,000. The number exceeded the 99,000 and 91,000 deaths reported in 2022 and 2021, respectively, during the same time period. Following the release of the statistics, Chinese social media erupted, and by Monday, Zhejiang had taken the numbers offline. Since the beginning of the pandemic, experts have criticized Beijing for its questionable pandemic data. Towards the end of the year 2019, the first known case was reported in China, and when it started to spread, it was declared a public health emergency of international concern in January 2020.