Topic: Wuhan Institute of Virology

Research group called DRASTIC is trawling the internet, comparing notes & putting up a concerted resistance to Chinese claims, supported by WHO, that SARS-CoV-2 has natural origins.

Group called DRASTIC spends months scouring internet to discover how Wuhan lab had been studying coronaviruses, including one that is genetically similar to SARS-CoV-2.

The 1977 pandemic — called the 'Russian Flu' — was caused by the Human influenza H1N1 virus. It came to be known as such because it was first reported by the erstwhile Soviet Union.

The 2015 study is an example of a ‘gain of function’ research that scientists from University of North Carolina in US & China's Wuhan Institute of Virology had been involved in for several years.

There’s no convincing evidence that SARS-CoV-2 has been genetically manipulated, but it’s well known that scientists have manipulated other viruses to make them more dangerous.

There have been growing demands to investigate whether the Covid pandemic was caused by a virus leak & if yes, was it owing to  a biosecurity issue, or engineered to infect humans in the lab.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi also said the follow up of the WHO report and further studies deserve the 'understanding and cooperation of all'.

In a statement, President Biden said while two elements of the intelligence community 'lean' toward the scenario that the virus emerged from human contact with infected animal, another points to a 'lab accident'.

Wuhan lab researchers created new viruses by using reverse genetics on bat coronaviruses. Some of this research was funded by the US.

Gain of function research focuses on growing generations of microorganisms under conditions that cause mutations. For years, there has been an ethical debate around it.