In February, however, a short article was released by two Wuhan scientists, Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao, pointing out that Wuhan laboratories had mounted expeditions across China to collect and study bat viruses. It made the bold statement that “in addition to origins of natural recombination and intermediate host, the killer coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan”. The paper was later withdrawn and some concluded it was an empty guess.
Nevertheless, when sequencing Wuhan’s novel coronavirus determining the order of the genetic letters that make up its genome Dr Shi found that it closely resembled a short sequence from a bat virus her lab had collected in the Mojiang mine in 2013. In publishing this finding in
For the World Health Organisation, its fact-finding mission to China left many questions on the possible origins of the pandemic. In Beijing, however, the outcome was framed Thursday as something solid: vindication and triumph. The WHO s headline announcement, that it would rule out the possibility the virus accidentally leaked from a Wuhan lab, was hailed by Chinese officials and in state media as effectively silencing claims that China was hiding secrets and trying to deflect blame.
Ng Han Guan/AP
Thea Fischer of the World Health Organisation team speaks to journalists outside after a WHO-China Joint Study Press Conference held at the end of the WHO mission in Wuhan, China.
Beijing: Studies into clusters of Covid-19 cases show that contaminated cold-chain food products are the major cause of the outbreaks, highlighting the need for protection of workers within the industry, experts said.
“Research has indicated that the virus can survive on cold-chain food and packaging during long distance shipping and may cause human infection, in particular to high-risk people such as dockworkers, ” said Liu Zhaoping, a researcher at the China National Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment.
“But the likelihood of food-to-human transmission is lower than other routes of transmission.”
Investigations into the source of the outbreaks in cities across China, including Beijing and the port cities of Dalian, Liaoning province, and Qingdao, Shandong province, found many of them could be traced to workers at cold storage areas, seafood processing plants and markets selling imported frozen food products, he said.
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China Says 16 Covid-19 Vaccines Undergoing Clinical Trials, Seven in Phase 3
A staff member checking vaccines during a media tour of a new factory built to produce a Covid-19 vaccine at Sinovac, one of 11 Chinese companies approved to carry out clinical trials of potential coronavirus vaccines, in Beijing. (Photo by WANG Zhao / AFP)
China is conducting clinical trials of 16 Covid-19 vaccines, seven of which have entered phase III trials and one has conditionally hit the market, Wu Yuanbin, an official with the Ministry of Science and Technology said.
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As the demand for the COVID-19 vaccine intensified around the world, China said that it has increased the number of vaccines undergoing clinical trials to 16 from 11 to step up supplies at home and abroad. China is conducting clinical trials of 16 COVID-19 vaccines, seven of which have entered phase-III trials and one has conditionally hit the market, Wu Yuanbin, an official with the Ministry of Science and
China says 16 Chinese COVID-19 vaccines undergoing clinical trials
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Last Updated: Jan 31, 2021, 09:24 PM IST
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China is conducting clinical trials of 16 COVID-19 vaccines, seven of which have entered phase-III trials and one has conditionally hit the market, Wu Yuanbin, an official with the Ministry of Science and Technology, was quoted as saying by the state-run CGTN TV.
China is conducting clinical trials of 16 COVID-19 vaccines.
As the demand for the COVID-19 vaccine intensified around the world, China said that it has increased the number of vaccines undergoing clinical trials to 16 from 11 to step up supplies at home and abroad.