china refuse to share data with WHO investigation team

[zouzounaki]

interesting article here about how china withheld data from the WHO team that were there looking into the origins of the covid virus.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/world/asia/china-world-health-organization-coronavirus.html

 

[Mitz]

Haven't looked at the link yet and maybe off topic but I find it laughable that the WHO have basically ruled out the lab release theory as improbable because of a lack of evidence. As if there would be any evidence available to them after China has had an entire year to erase it and cover their tracks! Could you even imagine the fallout if it was proven to be a lab leak?

I am NOT saying that I believe it was released from a lab. Not AT ALL. I'm simply saying that, IMHO, it's laughable for the WHO to rule it out as improbable after they're given very restricted access - ONE YEAR LATER.

 

[zouzounaki]

Haven't looked at the link yet and maybe off topic but I find it laughable that the WHO have basically ruled out the lab release theory as improbable because of a lack of evidence. As if there would be any evidence available to them after China has had an entire year to erase it and cover their tracks! Could you even imagine the fallout if it was proven to be a lab leak?

I am NOT saying that I believe it was released from a lab. Not AT ALL. I'm simply saying that, IMHO, it's laughable for the WHO to rule it out as improbable after they're given very restricted access - ONE YEAR LATER.

i read that before their trip to china they stated they weren’t ruling that out. can’t remember where, i’ll see if i can find it...

but i think this is a pretty serious matter, what is talked about in the article. the rest of the world should be taking robust action against china. the info they are withholding is pretty necessary if we are to find ways to manage something like this happening again in the future.

 

[Mitz]

i read that before their trip to china they stated they weren’t ruling that out. can’t remember where, i’ll see if i can find it...

but i think this is a pretty serious matter, what is talked about in the article. the rest of the world should be taking robust action against china. the info they are withholding is pretty necessary if we are to find ways to manage something like this happening again in the future.

That is what they said before their trip. Then towards the end of the trip they ruled it out.

I'll read it in a bit and respond to the rest of your post

 

[zouzounaki]

That is what they said before their trip. Then towards the end of the trip they ruled it out.

I'll read it in a bit and respond to the rest of your post.

a quick google search produced this from yesterday:

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19...-wuhan-lab-theory-as-probe-continues-12216442

 

[Mitz]

a quick google search produced this from yesterday:

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19...-wuhan-lab-theory-as-probe-continues-12216442

Cool. I watched when they gave a statement from China ruling it out. Just made no sense. Maybe they've been put under pressure or ridiculed for dismissing the possibility when really they should've just said it's something they simply cannot know after so much time has passed and with the very limited and restricted access they've been given. Doubt that would've gone down too well in China tho.

Not a supporter of the lab theory but you can't dismiss something just because you can't prove it's true. Lack of evidence doesn't by itself prove a negative.

 

[Rickster]

Im a fan of the lab theory, I strongly suspect any country would not admit to a lab leak/accident or intent and blame the fish

 

[Badboybez]

Im a fan of the lab theory, I strongly suspect any country would not admit to a lab leak/accident or intent and blame the fish

I don't believe the lab theory for a moment.
Why would the Chinese want to develop a virus so uncontrollable that it could kill the entire population of the world.
People might say germ warfare, but if you were developing a virus, in parallel you would develop a vaccine for your own troops etc. Clearly there was not given that thousands, and thousands of Chinese were killed, and the time lag before the Chinese had a vaccine.

I go along with the jump from animals to humans.
I have worked in some of the industrial towns in China, and the food there is very suspect at the best of times.

I worked with a Chinese engineer a few times, and they get a pittance in subsistence.
Most nights of the week he would find one of the cheapest restaurants fast food shops around, and insist we used that for the evening.
One was particularly disgusting, there were trays of raw meat, and fish that were unrecognisable, on the counters, and on the floor.
People were smoking, and throwing the cigarette ends on the same floor area.

Luckily his boss made him go back home in Shanghai each weekend, so on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays I would dine in a very nice Italian & Steak restaurant opposite the hotel, and stuff myself with enough food to stave off the hunger mid week.................

 

[Simon G]

I don't believe the lab theory for a moment.
Why would the Chinese want to develop a virus so uncontrollable that it could kill the entire population of the world.
People might say germ warfare, but if you were developing a virus, in parallel you would develop a vaccine for your own troops etc. Clearly there was not given that thousands, and thousands of Chinese were killed, and the time lag before the Chinese had a vaccine.

That's quite a leap, there are terrible viruses in labs all around the world. They have them for the good of people, to study, understand and develop/improve vaccines. .. and yes they do create new viruses all the time. It wasn't that long ago that scientists recreated the black death from DNA samples of someone who died of it. SARS 2.0 was created in a lab in North Carolina... there reason was ".....the research was necessary because the natural SARS virus could mutate and become immune to our vaccines. By creating a deadlier and mutated virus, we could develop stronger vaccines that will save us from a more lethal SARS epidemic—that is, if the natural SARS ever mutates."

There's loads of examples of scientists doing stuff like this, google 'deadly viruses created in labs' or something and you'll find loads.

You can believe this may have been an accidental transmission/release from a Chinese lab by simple negligence or mistakes without getting into germ warfare conspiracies.

Why would they develop this new coronavirus strain? many reasons good I expect. Is it possible that this virus was in a lab? Completely possible and there doesn't need to be any nefarious reasons for that either, it's what these labs do.

 

[rew]

Well the Chinese are certainly covering something up, but will we ever know the actual truth. If it had originated from somewhere else I'm sure they would have pointed the finger pretty quickly.