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24 May: UK Sun: LAB SCANDAL Scientist says coronavirus ‘uniquely adapted to infect humans’ and Wuhan lab must be probed over claims it leaked virus
by Jon Lockett
A WORRYING scientific report claims coronavirus is “uniquely adapted to infect humans” raising fears it may have been made in a Chinese lab.
A team of top researchers have now said those looking into the origins of the outbreak should probe the possibility it “leaked” from a science hub in the city of Wuhan.
Professor Nikolai Petrovsky, who headed the Australian team, said the virus was not typical of a normal animal-to-human infection as it had the “exceptional” ability to enter our bodies immediately.
And the expert said the “remote” possibility it may have somehow escaped from a testing lab could not be ruled out...
Today’s reports come after it was claimed analysis of mobile phone data showed the Wuhan lab shut down in October...
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11697035/scientist-coronavirus-uniquely-adapted-human-wuhan-lab/
24 May: Yahoo Australia: ‘Designed for humans’: Aussie scientists make disturbing new coronavirus claims
by Nick Whigham
Speculation about the origins of the novel coronavirus continues as Australian scientists insist the possibility it came from a lab can’t be ruled out.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which results in the COVID-19 disease, binds to human cells more potently than any of the tested animal species using the computer modelling, including bats.
“Which argues against bats being a direct source of the human virus,” says lead author professor Nikolai Petrovsky.
In a paper published this month, but yet to be peer reviewed, the Australian scientists pointed to a number of reasons why the virus became so well adapted to humans, such as convergent evolution after exposure to human cells, rare mutations that mix two species genes, and exposure to human cells very early in the pandemic.
But they say it’s impossible, at this point, to rule out the hypothesis that is was created in a cell-culture experiment in a lab.
“What we are saying is that this virus looks for all the world like a virus designed specifically for humans – the only question is did this happen by chance, or intent,” Prof Petrovsky told Yahoo News Australia...
Prof Petrovsky is calling for a comprehensive scientific inquiry into the origins of the virus.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-scientists-say-virus-designed-specifically-for-humans-234837177.html