Coronavirus: Wuhan virology lab’s long history of scientific collaboration
- French and US expertise behind establishment of China’s top-level research facility into deadly and easily transmittable pathogens
- International scientists defend Wuhan Institute of Virology and its deputy director Shi Zhengli who discovered link between bats and Sars
While experts have repeatedly said it is highly unlikely the new coronavirus – named Sars-CoV-2 – accidentally leaked from the lab, its location in the central Chinese city where the first infections were reported has made the institute a target in the blame game between the US and China over the pandemic.
But, from the outset, international scientists were closely involved in the development of the institute’s highly specialised laboratory and have repeatedly vouched for its safety procedures. In addition, the institute’s researchers have collaborated with their global counterparts for years.
James Le Duc, director of the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas, one of the largest active biocontainment facilities on a US campus, was closely involved in training the Wuhan institute’s staff from before it opened in January 2018.
