Wuhan scientists ‘could be executed and blamed for Covid lab leak’, expert claims – World News
China could execute the scientists who worked at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and then blame them for leaking Covid-19 from the lab, an expert has claimed.
Ross Terrill, a China specialist and Associate in Research at Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, believes the Communist regime might adopt some extreme measures to “save its face”.
As pressure mounts to discover the origins of the coronavirus – which has so far infected 183,047,755 people and killed 3,964,411 worldwide – Mr Terrill believes China could launch its own manhunt to find the “culprits” behind a possible leak.
The 83-year-old expert claimed President Xi Jinping might even order an execution of the scientists to show that China has no bad intentions when it comes to the origins of the disease.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Mr Terrill told The Sun : “China might find culprits for the mistake in the lab and execute them, to show Beijing’s pure intentions.
“The world will not be pleased, but it gets China off the hook – showing no malign intention.”
But the Australian expert also warned that if something extreme happened, it would cause a backlash as other countries would blame China for the pandemic.
He added: “I still think if the evidence of an accidental leak grows, China would be better off to say so and move on from there.”
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
A World Health Organisation investigation into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic has not ruled out any theory behind the outbreak.
In February, a team of WHO and Chinese experts said the virus was “extremely unlikely” to have entered the human population as a result of a laboratory-related incident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
But the WHO then added that “all hypotheses still remain on the table” as it vowed to arrange a second phase of the investigation.
(Image: Getty Images)
Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies programme, said: “With regards to the origins of the virus, WHO views it as extremely important to understand the origins of this particular virus which has caused the global pandemic.
“There are many hypotheses for that origin and the international team which was sent to the team by Dr Tedros at the request of the World Health Assembly carried out a number of studies and investigations.
“All hypotheses still remain on the table.”
(Image: Wuhan Virology Institute)
It comes as a new study claims that Covid-19 was created by Chinese scientists who then tried to cover their tracks by suggesting it came from bats.
British Professor Angus Dalgleish and Norwegian scientist Dr Birger Sørense found “the likelihood of Covid being the result of natural processes is very small.”
They also allege the Chinese scientists reverse-engineered versions of the virus to make it look like it evolved naturally from bats.
Last month, G7 leaders renewed calls for a probe to understand the origins of Covid-19.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of WHO, said: “We believe that all hypotheses should be open, and we need to proceed to the second phase to really know the origins.”
He said that nearly 3.75 million people had died and “the respect these people deserve is knowing what the origin of this virus is so that we can prevent this from happening again.”
