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China-Coronavirus/Wuhan Virology Institute 1
FILE: Wuhan City, Hubei Province, central China - Date Unknown (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of nameplate of Wuhan Institute of Virology of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wuhan City, Hubei Province, central China - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
2. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wang Yanyi, director, Wuhan Institute of Virology(with reporter asking questions):
(Reporter:"Since the outbreak began, there has been speculation that the novel coronavirus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. How do you respond to that?")
"This is pure fabrication. Our institute first received the clinical sample of the unknown pneumonia on December 30 last year. After we checked the pathogen within the sample, we found it contained a new coronavirus, which is now called SARS-CoV-2. We didn't have any knowledge before that, nor had we ever encountered, researched or kept the virus. In fact, like everyone else, we didn't even know the virus existed. How could it have leaked from our lab when we never had it?"
(Reporter:"An article published in the periodical Nature in April 2018 mentioned a novel coronavirus originating from bats. And this coronavirus was in your lab. Is this the virus that caused the pandemic?")
"In fact, many coronaviruses are called "novel" when they are first discovered, such as MERS (the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), the one you mentioned and SARS-CoV-2. They were all called novel coronaviruses when they were first discovered, which may cause confusion. Actually, the virus mentioned in the 2018 article wasn't SARS-CoV-2. The virus in the article mainly causes diarrhea and death among piglets. It was later named SADS. The genome sequence of SADS is only 50 percent similar to that of SARS-CoV-2. It's a rather big difference."
(Reporter:"But in February, the institute published another article in Nature saying you found another novel coronavirus from bats. The similarity between this virus and the SARS-CoV-2 is up to 96.2 percent, which is relatively high. Could it be the source of the COVID-19 pandemic?")
"The bat coronavirus you mentioned which has a 96.2 percent genomic similarity to SARS-CoV-2 is called RaTG-13. From the perspective of many non-professionals, the similarity rate of 96.2 percent is a very high number. But coronavirus is one of the RNA viruses that have the largest genomes.Take the SARS-CoV-2 for example. Its entire genome contains about 30,000 bases. The difference of a percentage of 3.8 means the difference of over 1,100 nucleotide positions. In the natural world, it takes a long period of time for a virus to naturally evolve and mutate to become SARS-CoV-2.
Recently we've noticed a statement made by Edward Holmes, a world-leading virologist who studies the evolution of viruses. He believes it would take about 50 years for RaTG-13 to naturally evolve to SARS-CoV-2. The difference of over 1,100 positions is huge. And they should respectively match the corresponding nucleotide positions in the genome of SARS-CoV-2, which means it requires more than 1,100 mutations in these exact positions to become SARS-CoV-2. Thus, the probability is very low.
Many people might misunderstand that since our institute reported the RaTG-13's genome similarity to SARS-CoV-2, we must have the RaTG-13 virus in our lab. In fact, that's not the case. When we were sequencing the genes of this bat virus sample, we got the genome sequence of the RaTG-13 but we didn't isolate nor obtain the live virus of RaTG-13. Thus, there is no possibility of us leaking RaTG-13."
FILE: Wuhan City, Hubei Province, central China - Date Unknown (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
3. Wuhan Institute of Virology
Claims and rumors that the COVID-19 virus came from a Chinese laboratory are "pure fabrication", according to Wang Yanyi, the director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Wang told China Global Television Network (CGTN) that her lab first got a sample of the virus at the end of 2019, after the coronavirus had already begun its path of destruction which has already killed more than 330,000 globally and forced the shutdown of the world economy.
Unsubstantiated rumors and conspiracy theories had claimed the virus could have started from a leak from the laboratory, a claim its director dismissed outright.
"This is pure fabrication. Our institute first received the clinical sample of the unknown pneumonia on December 30 last year. After we checked the pathogen within the sample, we found it contained a new coronavirus, which is now called SARS-CoV-2. We didn't have any knowledge before that, nor had we ever encountered, researched or kept the virus. In fact, like everyone else, we didn't even know the virus existed. How could it have leaked from our lab when we never had it," said Wang.
Some speculations point to an article published in the periodical Nature mentioned a novel coronavirus originating from bats was found in the lab of the institute. In response, Wang explained that the SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, is not the only virus that has been named novel coronavirus.
"In fact, many coronaviruses are called "novel" when they are first discovered, such as MERS (the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), the one you mentioned and SARS-CoV-2. They were all called novel coronaviruses when they were first discovered, which may cause confusion. Actually, the virus mentioned in the 2018 article wasn't SARS-CoV-2. The virus in the article mainly causes diarrhea and death among piglets. It was later named SADS. The genome sequence of SADS is only 50 percent similar to that of SARS-CoV-2. It's a rather big difference," said Wang.
In February, the institute published another article in Nature saying they found another novel coronavirus from bats, RaTG-13. The similarity between this virus and the SARS-CoV-2 is up to 96.2 percent, something that appears relatively high in the eyes of ordinary people but is of no significance to researchers.
"From the perspective of many non-professionals, the similarity rate of 96.2 percent is a very high number. But coronavirus is one of the RNA viruses that have the largest genomes. Take the SARS-CoV-2 for example. Its entire genome contains about 30,000 bases. The difference of a percentage of 3.8 means the difference of over 1,100 nucleotide positions. In the natural world, it takes a long period of time for a virus to naturally evolve and mutate to become SARS-CoV-2. Recently we've noticed a statement made by Edward Holmes, a world-leading virologist who studies the evolution of viruses. He believes it would take about 50 years for RaTG-13 to naturally evolve to SARS-CoV-2. The difference of over 1,100 positions is huge. And they should respectively match the corresponding nucleotide positions in the genome of SARS-CoV-2, which means it requires more than 1,100 mutations in these exact positions to become SARS-CoV-2. Thus, the probability is very low," said Wang.
Besides, it is unreasonable to assume the Wuhan lab has RaTG-13 simply because the institute reported the RaTG-13's genomic similarity to SARS-CoV-2. In fact, they have never tried to isolate the virus, stressed Wang.
"Many people might misunderstand that since our institute reported the RaTG-13's genome similarity to SARS-CoV-2, we must have the RaTG-13 virus in our lab. In fact, that's not the case. When we were sequencing the genes of this bat virus sample, we got the genome sequence of the RaTG-13 but we didn't isolate nor obtain the live virus of RaTG-13. Thus, there is no possibility of us leaking RaTG-13," said Wang.
China-Coronavirus/Wuhan Virology Institute 1
Dateline : May 13, 2020/File
Location : Wuhan,Hubei,China
Duration : 4'48
FILE: Wuhan City, Hubei Province, central China - Date Unknown (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of nameplate of Wuhan Institute of Virology of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wuhan City, Hubei Province, central China - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
2. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wang Yanyi, director, Wuhan Institute of Virology(with reporter asking questions):
(Reporter:"Since the outbreak began, there has been speculation that the novel coronavirus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. How do you respond to that?")
"This is pure fabrication. Our institute first received the clinical sample of the unknown pneumonia on December 30 last year. After we checked the pathogen within the sample, we found it contained a new coronavirus, which is now called SARS-CoV-2. We didn't have any knowledge before that, nor had we ever encountered, researched or kept the virus. In fact, like everyone else, we didn't even know the virus existed. How could it have leaked from our lab when we never had it?"
(Reporter:"An article published in the periodical Nature in April 2018 mentioned a novel coronavirus originating from bats. And this coronavirus was in your lab. Is this the virus that caused the pandemic?")
"In fact, many coronaviruses are called "novel" when they are first discovered, such as MERS (the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), the one you mentioned and SARS-CoV-2. They were all called novel coronaviruses when they were first discovered, which may cause confusion. Actually, the virus mentioned in the 2018 article wasn't SARS-CoV-2. The virus in the article mainly causes diarrhea and death among piglets. It was later named SADS. The genome sequence of SADS is only 50 percent similar to that of SARS-CoV-2. It's a rather big difference."
(Reporter:"But in February, the institute published another article in Nature saying you found another novel coronavirus from bats. The similarity between this virus and the SARS-CoV-2 is up to 96.2 percent, which is relatively high. Could it be the source of the COVID-19 pandemic?")
"The bat coronavirus you mentioned which has a 96.2 percent genomic similarity to SARS-CoV-2 is called RaTG-13. From the perspective of many non-professionals, the similarity rate of 96.2 percent is a very high number. But coronavirus is one of the RNA viruses that have the largest genomes.Take the SARS-CoV-2 for example. Its entire genome contains about 30,000 bases. The difference of a percentage of 3.8 means the difference of over 1,100 nucleotide positions. In the natural world, it takes a long period of time for a virus to naturally evolve and mutate to become SARS-CoV-2.
Recently we've noticed a statement made by Edward Holmes, a world-leading virologist who studies the evolution of viruses. He believes it would take about 50 years for RaTG-13 to naturally evolve to SARS-CoV-2. The difference of over 1,100 positions is huge. And they should respectively match the corresponding nucleotide positions in the genome of SARS-CoV-2, which means it requires more than 1,100 mutations in these exact positions to become SARS-CoV-2. Thus, the probability is very low.
Many people might misunderstand that since our institute reported the RaTG-13's genome similarity to SARS-CoV-2, we must have the RaTG-13 virus in our lab. In fact, that's not the case. When we were sequencing the genes of this bat virus sample, we got the genome sequence of the RaTG-13 but we didn't isolate nor obtain the live virus of RaTG-13. Thus, there is no possibility of us leaking RaTG-13."
FILE: Wuhan City, Hubei Province, central China - Date Unknown (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
3. Wuhan Institute of Virology
Claims and rumors that the COVID-19 virus came from a Chinese laboratory are "pure fabrication", according to Wang Yanyi, the director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Wang told China Global Television Network (CGTN) that her lab first got a sample of the virus at the end of 2019, after the coronavirus had already begun its path of destruction which has already killed more than 330,000 globally and forced the shutdown of the world economy.
Unsubstantiated rumors and conspiracy theories had claimed the virus could have started from a leak from the laboratory, a claim its director dismissed outright.
"This is pure fabrication. Our institute first received the clinical sample of the unknown pneumonia on December 30 last year. After we checked the pathogen within the sample, we found it contained a new coronavirus, which is now called SARS-CoV-2. We didn't have any knowledge before that, nor had we ever encountered, researched or kept the virus. In fact, like everyone else, we didn't even know the virus existed. How could it have leaked from our lab when we never had it," said Wang.
Some speculations point to an article published in the periodical Nature mentioned a novel coronavirus originating from bats was found in the lab of the institute. In response, Wang explained that the SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, is not the only virus that has been named novel coronavirus.
"In fact, many coronaviruses are called "novel" when they are first discovered, such as MERS (the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), the one you mentioned and SARS-CoV-2. They were all called novel coronaviruses when they were first discovered, which may cause confusion. Actually, the virus mentioned in the 2018 article wasn't SARS-CoV-2. The virus in the article mainly causes diarrhea and death among piglets. It was later named SADS. The genome sequence of SADS is only 50 percent similar to that of SARS-CoV-2. It's a rather big difference," said Wang.
In February, the institute published another article in Nature saying they found another novel coronavirus from bats, RaTG-13. The similarity between this virus and the SARS-CoV-2 is up to 96.2 percent, something that appears relatively high in the eyes of ordinary people but is of no significance to researchers.
"From the perspective of many non-professionals, the similarity rate of 96.2 percent is a very high number. But coronavirus is one of the RNA viruses that have the largest genomes. Take the SARS-CoV-2 for example. Its entire genome contains about 30,000 bases. The difference of a percentage of 3.8 means the difference of over 1,100 nucleotide positions. In the natural world, it takes a long period of time for a virus to naturally evolve and mutate to become SARS-CoV-2. Recently we've noticed a statement made by Edward Holmes, a world-leading virologist who studies the evolution of viruses. He believes it would take about 50 years for RaTG-13 to naturally evolve to SARS-CoV-2. The difference of over 1,100 positions is huge. And they should respectively match the corresponding nucleotide positions in the genome of SARS-CoV-2, which means it requires more than 1,100 mutations in these exact positions to become SARS-CoV-2. Thus, the probability is very low," said Wang.
Besides, it is unreasonable to assume the Wuhan lab has RaTG-13 simply because the institute reported the RaTG-13's genomic similarity to SARS-CoV-2. In fact, they have never tried to isolate the virus, stressed Wang.
"Many people might misunderstand that since our institute reported the RaTG-13's genome similarity to SARS-CoV-2, we must have the RaTG-13 virus in our lab. In fact, that's not the case. When we were sequencing the genes of this bat virus sample, we got the genome sequence of the RaTG-13 but we didn't isolate nor obtain the live virus of RaTG-13. Thus, there is no possibility of us leaking RaTG-13," said Wang.
ID : 8144088
Published : 2020-05-23 22:56
Last Modified : 2020-05-25 17:32:00
Source : China Central Television (CCTV)
Restrictions : No access Chinese mainland
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