
US-China Researchers Proposed Engineering SARS-CoV-2-Like Viruses Before the COVID Pandemic
Scientists from the United States aimed to work with the controversial Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) to create new coronaviruses similar to the COVID-19 virus in 2018, according to newly released documents. On Thursday, the U.S. Right to Know, a nonprofit public health research group, published documents related to a U.S.-China research grant proposal called DEFUSE. Under the research program, “American scientists planned to work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology to engineer novel coronaviruses with the features of SARS-CoV-2 the year before the virus emerged from that city,” the nonprofit said in a Jan. 18 post. Multiple U.S. agencies believe the COVID-19 virus leaked from the WIV. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report in June last year lending credence to the theory....
