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COVID Likely Emerged From Wuhan Lab — and Earlier Than Previously Believed, Senate Report Concludes

COVID-19 likely resulted from an accidental leak at a laboratory in Wuhan, China, and triggered the start of the pandemic earlier in 2019 than Chinese government officials claimed, according to a Senate report released today.

Excerpt from Children’s Health Defense (CHD):

COVID-19 likely resulted from an accidental leak at a laboratory in Wuhan, China, and triggered the start of the pandemic earlier in 2019 than Chinese government officials claimed, according to a Senate report released today [April 18].

The report noted multiple ongoing biosafety lapses that occurred early in 2019 at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), where Chinese and U.S. researchers were conducting gain-of-function research.

It also documented efforts led by the Chinese military to develop a COVID-19 vaccine at the lab weeks before China admitted the virus first emerged in Wuhan.

Sen. Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.) — the member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions who released the report — said in a press release:

“A preponderance of evidence in this report suggests there were two separate unintentional lab leaks dating back to fall of 2019 in Wuhan, China with significant evidence supporting that COVID-19 was a lab-created and altered virus.”

The 300-page report, “Muddy Waters: The Origins of COVID-19 Report,” contains more than 1,500 citations to corroborate its findings. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) who served as minority leader of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, requested the committee compile the report.

This news comes after FBI Director Christopher Wray on March 1 confirmed that the FBI has long believed COVID-19 originated at a Chinese government lab.