The top German virologist Christian Drosten does not rule out an unnatural corona origin – mainly because of questionable experiments in Wuhan’s laboratories.
Frankfurt – Christian Drosten commented on the origin of the corona virus. In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the German virologist, who recently had to deal with allegations of a cover-up, talks about the possibility that the corona virus came from a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan. He does not want to completely rule out this theory, but considers it very unlikely: “The Sars-CoV-2 virus could not have come out of it.” The virologist continues to assume that the virus spread naturally.
Drosten suspects that Corona has its origins in the animal kingdom, since the virus has the same disease ecology as a previous Sars variant. “We know the Sars-1 virus, which belongs to the same species as Sars-CoV-2. Sars-1 originates from bats and passed to humans via civets and raccoon dogs as intermediate hosts. The virus probably only changed in the intermediate hosts in such a way that it could also infect humans.” There is no comparable high-quality scientific evidence for the hypothesis of laboratory origin.
Drosten: The corona virus could not have come out of it
Even if Drosten largely denies the laboratory thesis, he emphasizes, based on published project reports from Wuhan: “Things were definitely done in Wuhan that could be described as dangerous.” Nevertheless, the corona virus could not have come out of it, says the virologist. “They have built new properties into bat viruses, but not those that could be considered the predecessors of Sars-CoV-2.”
Some of the experiments carried out in Wuhan’s laboratories are called “gain-of-function experiments”. As part of this, new spike proteins were incorporated into viruses from bats using genetic engineering. The result: the constructed viruses were able to multiply better, explains Drosten of the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Drosten on the origin of Corona: I was always open to both options
There will only be a final explanation if China cooperates fully, which is currently not the case. Until then, Drosten does not rule out anything: “You can see in all of my public statements that I have always been open to both possibilities.” However, he currently considers a natural origin of the corona virus to be more likely.
Nevertheless, according to Christian Drosten, the public should have been informed about the experiments in Wuhan at an early stage. As part of this, the virologist clearly criticizes some colleagues: “Above all, some people in the USA knew about these experiments. Right from the start, when these public allegations came up, you should have communicated aggressively and proactively what was being done in the laboratory.”
Many scientists, including himself, would have put their hands on fire for their colleagues from Wuhan in The Lancet, one of the oldest and most renowned medical journals in the world. However, they were not aware of the experiments in Wuhan’s labs. Drosten admits to the SZ: “If I had known about it, I would have at least had questions before I signed.” (Monja Stolz)
