Rapport: Mobiltrafikken i Wuhan-laboratoriet stanset midt i oktober

En tekniker arbeider med influensavaksiner i Wuhan-laboratoriet den 17. juni 2009. Foto: China Daily / Reuters / Scanpix.

Amerikansk og britisk etterretning undersøker en rapport som viser at mobiltrafikken ved Wuhan-laboratoriet stanset opp i tidsrommet 7.–24. oktober 2019, skriver The Telegraph.

According to a report, obtained by NBC News, there was no mobile phone activity in a high-security part of the Chinese laboratory complex from Oct 7 to Oct 24. Previously, there had been consistent use of mobile phones.

The report, carried out by private experts, suggested there may have been a «hazardous event,» specifically at the institute’s National Biosafety Laboratory, between Oct 6 and Oct 11.

Rapporten om mobildataene, som er forelagt det amerikanske Senatets etterretningskomité, synes også å peke i retning av at det kan ha vært veisperringer i nærheten i tiden 14.–19. oktober.

Selv om bildet av saken som tegnes av all offentlig kjent etterretning, ikke beviser noe laboratorieuhell hinsides tvil, og vitenskapsfolk fremdeles peker på våtmarkedet i Wuhan som epidemiens mest sannsynlig kilde, lar ikke Washington denne tvilen komme Beijing til gode.

However, the document could be what Donald Trump was referring to when the president recently said he had seen evidence giving him a «high degree of confidence» the pandemic began accidentally at the Wuhan laboratory.

Funnet om mobiltrafikken utvider indisiekjeden som peker i retning av epidemien skyldes en ekstraordinær hendelse ved laboratoriet.

NBC News gjengir noen punkter:

A Jan. 24 study published in the medical journal The Lancet found that three of the first four cases — including the first known case — didn’t provide a documented link to the Wuhan wet market.

The bats that carry the family of coronaviruses linked to the new strain aren’t found within 100 miles of Wuhan — but they were studied in both labs.

Photos and videos have emerged of researchers at both labs collecting samples from bats without wearing protective gear, which experts say poses a risk of human infection.

A U.S. State Department expert who visited the WIV in 2018 wrote in a cable reported by The Washington Post: «During interactions with scientists at the WIV laboratory, [U.S. diplomats] noted the new lab has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory.»

According to Senate Intelligence Committee member Tom Cotton, R-Ark., the Chinese military posted its top epidemiologist to the WIV in January.

The Shanghai laboratory where researchers published the world’s first genome sequence of the coronavirus was shut down Jan. 12, according to The South China Morning Post.

According to U.S. intelligence assessments, including one published by the Department of Homeland Security and reviewed by NBC News, the Chinese government initially covered up the severity of the outbreak. Government officials threatened doctors who warned their colleagues about the virus, weren’t candid about human-to-human transmission and still haven’t provided virus samples to researchers.