The Washington Times reported the link with China’s biological weapons quoting an Israeli biological warfare expert. Dany Shoham, a former Israeli military intelligence officer who has studied Chinese biowarfare, said the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is linked to Beijing’s covert biological weapons programme but so far there isn’t evidence or indication for such incident. Lethal animal virus epidemic coronavirus, which has sent panic waves across the world, may have its origins at the epicentre of the epidemic, Wuhan. The biosafety laboratory is located about 20 miles from the Hunan Seaford Market that reports from China say may have been origin point of the virus. The laboratory is the only declared site in China capable of working with deadly viruses.
Shoham told The Washington Times, “Certain laboratories in the institute have probably been engaged, in terms of research and development, in Chinese biological weapons, at least collaterally, yet not as a principal facility of the Chinese BW alignment. Work on biological weapons is conducted as part of a dual civilian-military research and is “definitely covert. From 1970 to 1991, Dany Shoham, was a senior analyst with Israeli military intelligence for biological and chemical warfare in the Middle East and worldwide, holding the rank of lieutenant colonel. The former Israeli military intelligence doctor also said suspicions were raised about the institute when a group of Chinese virologists working in Canada improperly sent samples to China of what he said were some of the deadliest viruses on earth, including the Ebola virus.
China in the past has denied having any offensive biological weapons. The U.S State Department, in a report last year, said it suspects that China has engaged in covert biological warfare work. One ominous sign, said a US official, is that false rumours since the outbreak began several weeks ago are being circulated on the Chinese internet claiming the virus is part of a US conspiracy to spread germ weapons. That could indicate that China is preparing propaganda outlets to counter future charges the new virus escaped from one of Wuhan’s civilian or defense research laboratories.
Chinese officials so far have said the origin of coronavirus that has killed many and infected hundreds in central Hubei Province is not known.
The World Health Organization is calling the microbe novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV. At a meeting in Geneva on Thursday, the organisation stopped short of declaring a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The virus outbreak causes pneumonia-like symptoms and prompted China to deploy military forces to Wuhan this week in a bid to halt the spread. All travel out of the city of 11 million people was halted. On Jan. 26 afternoon, the State Council Information Office held a press conference during which Ma Xiaowei, minister of China’s National Health Commission stated that the central government has earmarked 1 billion yuan (about $144 million) to support Hubei Province’s efforts to fight the outbreak. 7 medical teams comprising of 900 people have been sent to Wuhan, while a team of 450 from People’s Liberation Army (PLA), have arrived in the city.
