LONDON: COVID-19 is widely believed to have emanated from a “wet market” selling livestock infected with the virus in the Chinese city of Wuhan, but speculation has abounded, particularly in the US and from President Donald Trump, that the source of the outbreak may have come from elsewhere.
Those theories have been bolstered by a report from US broadcaster NBC News that the Wuhan Institute of Virology may have been the subject of an emergency shutdown, leading to police blocking off the site in October 2019, a few weeks prior to the outbreak in the city.
NBC added that US and UK intelligence agencies are examining a privately compiled report suggesting that between Oct. 7 and Oct. 24, no mobile phone data was recorded coming from part of the site thought to be the high-security National Biosafety Laboratory.
The site was previously a source of frequent mobile phone activity prior to Oct. 7, leading the report’s authors to speculate that a “hazardous event” might have taken place some time between Oct. 6 and Oct. 11.
In the intelligence report, seen by NBC, mobile data also suggested that police roadblocks were put in place between Oct. 14 and Oct. 19.
But there are doubts over the report’s veracity and the identity of its authors, with experts saying it may be based solely on commercially available mobile phone data, which would be limited in its scope.
Ruaridh Arrow, head of NBC News London’s Verification Unit, also urged caution, saying the data “may be misleading.”
HIGHLIGHT
Those theories have been bolstered by a report from US broadcaster NBC News that the Wuhan Institute of Virology may have been the subject of an emergency shutdown, leading to police blocking off the site in October 2019, a few weeks prior to the outbreak in the city.
Arrow tweeted: “(The) first important thing to note is that the data points are very low. Our sources estimate 2-300 people work at the lab but the number of devices ‘seen’ in the period before the alleged shutdown never get above 10, although in the previous 18 months they never fell to zero either.”
The report’s existence may be the source of information that has led Trump to carry an open mind on the roots of the outbreak, having previously said he had a “high degree of confidence” the pandemic began accidentally at the Wuhan laboratory.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also given the story credence, saying there is a “significant amount of evidence.”
The 24-page report has also been seen by the US Senate Intelligence Committee. Marco Rubio, a Republican senator and member of the committee, tweeted on May 6: “Would be interesting if someone analyzed commercial telemetry data at & near Wuhan lab from Oct-Dec 2019.
“If it shows dramatic drop off in activity compared to previous 18 months it would be a strong indication of an incident at lab & of when it happened.”
Beijing has rejected claims that the virus escaped from the laboratory, and has called on Washington to “show proof.”
According to NBC, US intelligence officials have privately suggested that not enough evidence exists to confirm the report’s allegations, and have called its findings “inconclusive.”
