Russia and China are spreading conspiracy theories about alleged bio-labs “under U.S. control” along their borders—implying that COVID is an American-made virus.

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1380652897617244163

Russia, China Team Up to Peddle Insane U.S. COVID Lab Theory
COLD WAR PROBLEMS

Russian and Chinese officials are spreading conspiracy theories about alleged bio-labs “under U.S. control” along their borders—implying that COVID is an American-made virus.

The Cold War could be coming back with a vengeance, and the U.S.’s top adversaries are dusting off some old-school Soviet tactics.

Russian and Chinese government officials have recently teamed up to publicly accuse the U.S. of creating biological weapons near their borders and suggesting that Americans are responsible for creating COVID-19.

Speaking to the Russian daily newspaper Kommersant on Thursday, Nikolai Patrushev, Russia’s Security Council secretary, said: “I suggest that you pay attention to the fact that biological laboratories under U.S. control are growing by leaps and bounds all over the world. And—by a strange coincidence—mainly near the Russian and Chinese borders.”

Patrushev, who formerly served as director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB)—the main successor organization to the Soviet KGB—added that “outbreaks of diseases uncharacteristic of these regions” have been recorded in areas adjacent to these alleged bio-labs. He then openly accused the U.S. of developing biological weapons in those facilities.

Like clockwork, Russian state media echoed and disseminated Patrushev’s accusations against the U.S. But this time, they were accompanied by an official statement from China’s Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Lijian Zhao, who tweeted: “The US bio-military activities are not transparent, safe or justified. In Ukraine alone, the US has set up 16 bio-labs. Why does the US need so many labs all over the world? What activities are carried out in those labs, including the one in Fort Detrick?”

More: https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia-china-team-up-to-peddle-insane-us-covid-lab-theory

A group of scientists has called for a much more thorough review of lab security+virus handling procedures in #China, stating that the ⁦@WHO team was restricted from the outset by terms of reference pushing a zoonotic origin of the #coronavirus.

Stephen McDonell
@StephenMcDonell
China Correspondent BBC, after 9 years as ABC Beijing Bureau Chief. Bachelor of Arts, Wollongong University. MA (Journalism) U.T.S.

https://twitter.com/StephenMcDonell/status/1379857605225373696

You can read letter above yourself but it is a very strongly-worded criticism of the @WHO
investigation team’s processes and findings by a group of scientists who say that “no robust process for examining the origins of the pandemic has been established”. #coronavirus

They say there were “different evidentiary standards” for the four theories considered; that there is no solid evidence for the conclusion that a lab leak origin was “extremely unlikely”; that critical records and samples remain “inaccessible” etc.

They say the primary conclusion that an intermediary host animal path was the most likely origin of the #coronavirus remains “entirely theoretical”, meaning - at the very least - that other origin pathways must remain open. #China

+ calling for: a new team to carry out research in #China with broader specialist expertise; without any government having veto power re the team make up; a more robust process dealing with potential conflicts of interest like “prior professional association with laboratories”...

++calling for team to be able to interview relevant people “without the presence of government authorities”.

Calls for Further Inquiries Into Coronavirus Origins

A group of scientists and others who are critics of the W.H.O. team report want a broader investigation into the potential sources of the coronavirus pandemic, and a review of lab security in handling viruses.

More: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/04/07/science/virus-inquiries-pandemic-origins.html