CNN learns of US intelligence gathering virus data in Wuhan lab

US intelligence agencies have gained access to a database of virus samples that have been studied at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Now experts from the United States are analyzing the information received, informs CNN citing knowledgeable sources.

The TV channel was unable to find out how the intelligence gained access to this information. CNN interlocutors explained that the machines that process this kind of genetic information are usually linked to cloud servers. This leaves room for hacking.

Intelligence agencies use supercomputers in the Department of Energy’s national laboratories to interpret such a large amount of raw data. However, intelligence has faced difficulties in finding scientists who will decipher: they are required not only to have access to classified information, but also to know the Mandarin dialect of the Chinese language in which the database is written.

“Obviously there are scientists who have passed the security screening. But Mandarin speaking and screened? This is a very limited circle. And not just scientists, but those who specialize in biology? So you can imagine how quickly difficulties appear, ”said a source on the channel with access to intelligence.

In May, US President Joe Biden instructed US intelligence agencies to “redouble efforts” to find the source of the origin of COVID-19 and report the results within 90 days. According to The New York Times, before that, American intelligence informed the White House that it has some not yet investigated data regarding the origin of the coronavirus. It was reported that intelligence is using “extraordinary” computer power to test the version of the leak of the COVID-19 virus from a laboratory in Wuhan.

Prior to that, this version was considered marginal and was mainly popular with supporters of conspiracy theories. In February, Facebook began to delete posts on social networks about the laboratory origin of the coronavirus along with publications about the dangers of vaccination, but in May changed its mind. transfers Interfax.

One of the versions of the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where a laboratory with the highest fourth biosafety level (BSL-4) operates. After the outbreak of atypical pneumonia in 2002-2003 caused by the SARS-CoV coronavirus, the institute scientists have been collecting and studying coronaviruses from bats, and also conducting experiments to transform coronaviruses. According to Live Science, there are 59 BSL-4 laboratories in 23 countries worldwide.

The fact that the COVID-19 pandemic began with an outbreak in Wuhan, where the institute that worked with coronaviruses is located, seemed suspicious to many. One of the active supporters of the laboratory version of the origin of the new coronavirus is the former US President Donald Trump, who often called him the “Chinese virus”, but Biden, who replaced him as president, did not support this version for a long time.

A group of WHO experts previously visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology and published a report in which they called the version of the virus leak “extremely unlikely”. The United States and its allies greeted the report with criticism and got WHO to acknowledge that a laboratory version of the origin of the coronavirus had been ruled out too early. In the United States, it is suspected that the research at the Wuhan lobby was conducted in an unsafe environment. There is evidence that experts had complaints about hazardous waste treatment systems and indoor air conditioning for coronavirus research.

At the end of July, the PRC refused WHO to conduct the second stage of studying the origin of COVID-19 in Chinese territory.