Xi Jinping on edge after US secures secretive Wuhan lab data that may expose Covid origin
Oli Smith, Daily Express
09 August 2021
China's Xi Jinping is on edge after the US spy agencies somehow managed to secure a giant catalogue of genetic information from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This comes as a surprise to those in China after Beijing refused to hand over raw data earlier this year. It is thought that access to a huge amount of genetic information could finally reveal the origin to COVID-19, according to CNN.
The genetic data could ultimately determine whether COVID-19 leaked from the Wuhan lab or was transmitted to humans via animals in the wild.
China has largely refused to cooperate with investigations from Western powers into the origin of the virus.
Earlier this year, China refused to hand over data on 174 early Covid cases to a team at the World Health Organization.
Beijing also rejected a second WHO probe into the origin of the virus last month.
![Xi Jinping sitting in a chair: covid]({"default":{"load":"default","w":"59","h":"35","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAN3aac.img?h=350&w=590&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=289&y=122"}})
The US search is part of President Joe Biden's 90-day push for the intelligence community to reach a definitive answer on the origins of COVID-19.
The President's deadline, at the end of this month, could possibly be extended if the US cannot uncover a "smoking gun".
It remains unclear how the US intelligence agencies got their hands on the genetic data.
![a group of people standing in front of a car: WUHAN LAB]({"default":{"load":"default","w":"59","h":"35","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAN35sd.img?h=350&w=590&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f"}})
The data contains the genetic blueprints of virus samples studied at the lab in Wuhan.
Senior sources told CNN that the US could have hacked the data since such genetic data from viruses are usually connected to cloud-based servers.
Last month, it was revealed that senior Biden administration officials now believe that the lab leak theory is at least as credible as the possibility that it emerged naturally in the wild.
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The lab leak theory was largely dismissed and discredited at the start of the pandemic.
Donald Trump faced criticism for placing blame on China for the outbreak during his presidency.
However, the renewed focus from the Biden administration comes amid puzzling findings from Wuhan.
![a man standing in front of a building: WUHAN]({"default":{"load":"default","w":"59","h":"35","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAN35si.img?h=350&w=590&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f"}})
A Wall Street Journal article based on a US intelligence report found that in November 2019, three researchers at the Wuhan lab got sick enough to seek medical care.
US Republicans recently published their own report into the origins, claiming that "the preponderance of evidence suggests" the coronavirus was "accidentally" released from a lab in Wuhan in 2019.
