Wuhan Institute of Virology

The WIV was founded in 1956 as the Wuhan Microbiology Laboratory under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). It was established by scientists Gao Shangyin, a graduate of Soochow University (Suzhou),{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299345593 |title=Biography of Professor Gao Shangyin |accessdate=2022-05-27}} and Chen Huagui.{{cite web |url=http://english.whiov.cas.cn/About_Us2016/Brief_Introduction2016/ |title=About WIV----Wuhan Institute of Virology}} In 1961, it became the South China Institute of Microbiology, and in 1962 was renamed Wuhan Microbiology Institute. In 1970, it became the Microbiology Institute of Hubei Province when the Hubei Commission of Science and Technology took over the administration. In June 1978, it was returned to the CAS and renamed Wuhan Institute of Virology.{{cite web |url=http://english.whiov.cas.cn/About_Us2016/History2016/ |title=History |website=Wuhan Institute of Virology, CAS |access-date=26 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729180122/http://english.whiov.cas.cn/About_Us2016/History2016/ |archive-date=29 July 2019 |url-status=live}}

In 2003, the Chinese academy of Sciences approved the construction of mainland China's first{{efn|As of February 2017, there were already two BSL-4 labs in Taiwan.}} biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory at the WIV. In 2014, the WIV's National Bio-safety Laboratory was built at a cost of 300 million yuan (US$44 million), in collaboration and with assistance from the French government's CIRI lab).{{cite news |title=Inside the Wuhan lab: French engineering, deadly viruses and a big mystery |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/wuhan-lab-covid-china/2021/09/07/f293325c-fb11-11eb-911c-524bc8b68f17_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post}}{{cite journal |last1=Cyranoski |first1=David |title=Inside the Chinese lab poised to study world's most dangerous pathogens |journal=Nature (journal) |date=23 February 2017 |volume=542 |issue=7642 |pages=399–400 |doi=10.1038/nature.2017.21487 |pmid=28230144 |bibcode=2017Natur.542..399C |doi-access=free}}{{cite web |title=China Inaugurates the First Biocontainment Level 4 Laboratory in Wuhan |date=3 February 2015 |publisher=Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences |url=http://english.whiov.cas.cn/News/Events/201502/t20150203_135923.html |access-date=9 April 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303215545/http://english.whiov.cas.cn/News/Events/201502/t20150203_135923.html |archive-date=3 March 2016}} The new laboratory building has 3000 m² of BSL-4 space, and also 20 BSL-2 and two BSL-3 laboratories.[https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/311625/WHO-WHE-CPI-2018.40-eng.pdf?sequence=1 Report of the WHO Consultative Meeting on High/Maximum Containment (Biosafety Level 4) Laboratories Networking, Lyon, France, 13–15 December 2017] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208090926/https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/311625/WHO-WHE-CPI-2018.40-eng.pdf?sequence=1 |date=8 February 2021 }}. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2018 (WHO/WHE/CPI/2018.40). The BSL-4 facilities were accredited by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS) in January 2017, with the BSL-4 level lab put into operation in January 2018.{{Cite news |title=China's first bio-safety level 4 lab put into operation |url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-01/04/c_136872077.htm |date=4 January 2018 |work=xinhuanet |access-date=12 November 2020 |archive-date=10 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201210014041/http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-01/04/c_136872077.htm |url-status=dead}} The highest level biosafety installation is necessary because the institute investigates highly dangerous viruses, such as SARS, influenza H5N1, Japanese encephalitis, and dengue.Dany Shoham (2015) China's Biological Warfare Programme: An Integrative Study with Special Reference to Biological Weapons Capabilities, Journal of Defence Studies, Vol. 9, No. 2 April–June 2015, pp. 131–156 [https://idsa.in/system/files/jds/jds_9_2_2015_DanyShoham.pdf China's Biological Warfare Programme. An Integrative Study with Special Reference to Biological Weapons Capabilities] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210162222/https://idsa.in/system/files/jds/jds_9_2_2015_DanyShoham.pdf |date=10 February 2021 }}

The National Bio-safety Laboratory has strong ties to the Galveston National Laboratory in the University of Texas.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/01/29/experts-debunk-fringe-theory-linking-chinas-coronavirus-weapons-research/ |title=Experts debunk fringe theory linking China's coronavirus to weapons research |first=Adam |last=Taylor |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=29 January 2020 |access-date=3 February 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200131185716/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/01/29/experts-debunk-fringe-theory-linking-chinas-coronavirus-weapons-research/ |archive-date=31 January 2020 |url-status=live}} It also had ties with Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory until WIV staff scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng, who were also remunerated by the Canadian government, were escorted from the Canadian lab for undisclosed reasons in July 2019.{{cite news |title=University severs ties with two researchers who were escorted out of National Microbiology Lab |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/lab-researcher-rcmp-national-microbiology-lab-1.5212851 |publisher=CBC News |date=15 July 2019 |first=Karen |last=Pauls |access-date=19 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200415064232/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/lab-researcher-rcmp-national-microbiology-lab-1.5212851 |archive-date=15 April 2020 |url-status=live}} Researchers from the WIV have, in the past, collaborated with international scientists in the creation of chimeric coronavirus. Some researchers (notably Richard Ebright) believe this work falls under the definition of gain of function research, but many other experts dispute this classification.{{cite news |last1=Robertson |first1=Lori |title=The Wuhan Lab and the Gain-of-Function Disagreement |url=https://www.factcheck.org/2021/05/the-wuhan-lab-and-the-gain-of-function-disagreement/ |access-date=26 January 2022 |agency=Annenberg Public Policy Center |date=1 July 2021}}

A number of safety precautions were taken into consideration when building the Wuhan lab. The lab was built far away from any flood plain. It was also built to withstand a magnitude-7 earthquake, even though the region has no history of earthquakes. Many Wuhan lab staff were trained at a BSL-4 lab in Lyon, France. Researchers were also trained in Australia, Canada, the United States and then in-house before the lab was operational. Scientists such as U.S. molecular biologist Richard H. Ebright, who had expressed concern of previous escapes of the SARS virus at Chinese laboratories in Beijing and had been troubled by the pace and scale of China's plans for expansion into BSL-4 laboratories, called the institute a "world-class research institution that does world-class research in virology and immunology" while he noted that the WIV is a world leader in the study of bat coronaviruses.

In 2005, a group including researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology published research into the origin of the SARS coronavirus, finding that China's horseshoe bats are natural reservoirs of SARS-like coronaviruses.{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Wendong |last2=Shi |first2=Zhengli |last3=Yu |first3=Meng |last4=Ren |first4=Wuze |last5=Smith |first5=Craig |last6=Epstein |first6=Jonathan H |last7=Wang |first7=Hanzhong |last8=Crameri |first8=Gary |last9=Hu |first9=Zhihong |last10=Zhang |first10=Huajun |last11=Zhang |first11=Jianhong |last12=McEachern |first12=Jennifer |last13=Field |first13=Hume |last14=Daszak |first14=Peter |last15=Eaton |first15=Bryan T |last16=Zhang |first16=Shuyi |last17=Wang |first17=Lin-Fa |s2cid=2971923 |title=Bats Are Natural Reservoirs of SARS-Like Coronaviruses |journal=Science (journal) |date=28 Oct 2005 |volume=310 |issue=5748 |pages=676–679 |doi=10.1126/science.1118391 |pmid=16195424 |bibcode=2005Sci...310..676L |url=https://zenodo.org/record/3949088 |access-date=23 July 2020 |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111110805/https://zenodo.org/record/3949088 |url-status=live |doi-access=free}} Continuing this work over a period of years, researchers from the institute sampled thousands of horseshoe bats in locations across China, isolating over 300 bat coronavirus sequences.{{cite journal |last1=Cyranoski |first1=David |title=Bat cave solves mystery of deadly SARS virus – and suggests new outbreak could occur |journal=Nature (journal) |date=1 December 2017 |volume=552 |issue=7683 |pages=15–16 |doi=10.1038/d41586-017-07766-9 |pmid=29219990 |bibcode=2017Natur.552...15C |doi-access=free}}

In 2015, an international team including two scientists from the institute published successful research on whether a bat coronavirus could be made to infect a human cell line (HeLa). The team engineered a hybrid virus, combining a bat coronavirus with a SARS virus that had been adapted to grow in mice and mimic human disease. The hybrid virus was able to infect human cells.{{cite Q|Q36702376}}{{cite journal |last1=Butler |first1=Declan |title=Engineered bat virus stirs debate over risky research |journal=Nature (journal) |date=12 November 2015 |doi=10.1038/nature.2015.18787 |doi-access= |s2cid=182338924}}

In 2017, a team from the institute announced that coronaviruses found in horseshoe bats at a cave in Yunnan contain all the genetic pieces of the SARS virus, and hypothesized that the direct progenitor of the human virus originated in this cave. The team, who spent five years sampling the bats in the cave, noted the presence of a village only a kilometer away, and warned of "the risk of spillover into people and emergence of a disease similar to SARS".{{cite journal |last1=Drosten |first1=C. |last2=Hu |first2=B. |last3=Zeng |first3=L.-P. |last4=Yang |first4=X.-L. |last5=Ge |first5=Xing-Yi |last6=Zhang |first6=Wei |last7=Li |first7=Bei |last8=Xie |first8=J.-Z. |last9=Shen |first9=X.-R. |last10=Zhang |first10=Yun-Zhi |last11=Wang |first11=N. |last12=Luo |first12=D.-S. |last13=Zheng |first13=X.-S. |last14=Wang |first14=M.-N. |last15=Daszak |first15=P. |last16=Wang |first16=L.-F. |last17=Cui |first17=J. |last18=Shi |first18=Z.-L. |title=Discovery of a rich gene pool of bat SARS-related coronaviruses provides new insights into the origin of SARS coronavirus |journal=PLOS Pathogens |volume=13 |issue=11 |year=2017 |pages=e1006698 |doi=10.1371/journal.ppat.1006698 |pmid=29190287 |pmc=5708621 |doi-access=free}}

In 2018, another paper by a team from the institute reported the results of a serological study of a sample of villagers residing near these bat caves (near Xiyang Township 夕阳乡 in Jinning District of Yunnan). According to this report, 6 out of the 218 local residents in the sample carried antibodies to the bat coronaviruses in their blood, indicating the possibility of transmission of the infections from bats to people.{{Cite journal |title=Serological Evidence of Bat SARS-Related Coronavirus Infection in Humans |year=2018 |pmc=6178078 |last1=Wang |first1=N. |last2=Li |first2=S. Y. |last3=Yang |first3=X. L. |last4=Huang |first4=H. M. |last5=Zhang |first5=Y. J. |last6=Guo |first6=H. |last7=Luo |first7=C. M. |last8=Miller |first8=M. |last9=Zhu |first9=G.|last10 = Chmura|first10 = A. A. |last11=Hagan |first11=E. |last12=Zhou |first12=J. H. |last13=Zhang |first13=Y. Z. |last14=Wang |first14=L. F. |last15=Daszak |first15=P. |last16=Shi |first16=Z. L. |journal=China Virologica Sinica |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=104–107 |doi=10.1007/s12250-018-0012-7 |pmid=29500691}}

Prior to and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, coronavirus research at the WIV has been conducted in BSL-2 and BSL-3 laboratories.{{Cite journal |title=Reply to Science Magazine |website=sciencemag.org |url=https://www.science.org/pb-assets/PDF/News%20PDFs/Shi%20Zhengli%20Q&A-1630433861.pdf |page=9 |access-date=2 March 2022 |archive-date=6 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201206204844/https://www.sciencemag.org/sites/default/files/Shi%20Zhengli%20Q%26A.pdf |url-status=live}}

{{see also|COVID-19 misinformation|Investigations into the origin of COVID-19}}

In December 2019, cases of pneumonia associated with an unknown coronavirus were reported to health authorities in Wuhan. The institute checked its coronavirus collection and found the new virus had 96% genetic similarity to RaTG13, a virus its researchers had discovered in horseshoe bats in southwest China.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-chinas-bat-woman-hunted-down-viruses-from-sars-to-the-new-coronavirus1 |magazine=Scientific American |title=How China's "Bat Woman" Hunted Down Viruses from SARS to the New Coronavirus |last=Qiu |first=Jane |author-link=Jane Qiu |date=11 March 2020 |access-date=18 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200318205611/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-chinas-bat-woman-hunted-down-viruses-from-sars-to-the-new-coronavirus1/ |archive-date=18 March 2020 |url-status=live}}{{cite journal |last1=Rathore |first1=Jitendra Singh |last2=Ghosh |first2=Chaitali |date=25 August 2020 |title=Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), a newly emerged pathogen: an overview |journal=Pathogens and Disease |volume=78 |issue=6 |doi=10.1093/femspd/ftaa042 |pmid=32840560 |pmc=7499575 |issn=2049-632X |oclc=823140442 |df=mdy-all}}

As the virus spread worldwide, the institute continued its investigation. In February 2020, a team led by Shi Zhengli at the institute were the first to identify, analyze and name the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), upload it to public databases for scientists around the world to understand,{{cite journal |last1=Zhou |first1=Peng |last2=Yang |first2=Xing-Lou |last3=Wang |first3=Xian-Guang |last4=Hu |first4=Ben |last5=Zhang |first5=Lei |last6=Zhang |first6=Wei |last7=Si |first7=Hao-Rui |last8=Zhu |first8=Yan |last9=Li |first9=Bei |last10=Huang |first10=Chao-Lin |last11=Chen |first11=Hui-Dong |last12=Chen |first12=Jing |last13=Luo |first13=Yun |last14=Guo |first14=Hua |last15=Jiang |first15=Ren-Di |last16=Liu |first16=Mei-Qin |last17=Chen |first17=Ying |last18=Shen |first18=Xu-Rui |last19=Wang |first19=Xi |last20=Zheng |first20=Xiao-Shuang |last21=Zhao |first21=Kai |last22=Chen |first22=Quan-Jiao |last23=Deng |first23=Fei |last24=Liu |first24=Lin-Lin |last25=Yan |first25=Bing |last26=Zhan |first26=Fa-Xian |last27=Wang |first27=Yan-Yi |last28=Xiao |first28=Geng-Fu |last29=Shi |first29=Zheng-Li |title=A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin |journal=Nature (journal) |date=March 2020 |volume=579 |issue=7798 |pages=270–273 |doi=10.1038/s41586-020-2012-7 |pmid=32015507 |language=en |issn=1476-4687 |display-authors=6 |pmc=7095418 |bibcode=2020Natur.579..270Z}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/01/world/asia/china-coronavirus.html |title=As New Coronavirus Spread, China's Old Habits Delayed Fight |date=1 February 2020 |access-date=3 February 2020 |first1=Chris |last1=Buckley |author2=Steven Lee Myers |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200319085226/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/01/world/asia/china-coronavirus.html |archive-date=19 March 2020 |url-status=live}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/mining-coronavirus-genomes-clues-outbreak-s-origins |title=Mining coronavirus genomes for clues to the outbreak's origins |magazine=Science |first=Jon |last=Cohen |date=1 February 2020 |access-date=4 February 2020 |quote=The viral sequences, most researchers say, also knock down the idea the pathogen came from a virology institute in Wuhan. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203150001/https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/mining-coronavirus-genomes-clues-outbreak-s-origins |archive-date=3 February 2020 |url-status=live}} and publish papers in Nature.{{cite journal |title=A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin |journal=Nature |first1=Shi |last1=Zhengli |author2=Team of 29 researchers at the WIV |pages=270–273 |date=3 February 2020 |volume=579 |issue=7798 |author1-link=Shi Zhengli |doi=10.1038/s41586-020-2012-7 |pmid=32015507 |pmc=7095418 |bibcode=2020Natur.579..270Z}} On 19 February 2020, the lab released a letter on its website describing how they successfully obtained the whole virus genome.{{cite web |url=http://www.whiov.ac.cn/tzgg_105342/202002/t20200219_5502325.html |title=A letter to all staff and graduate students |author= |date=19 February 2020 |website=WIV Official Website |access-date=24 May 2020 |language=zh |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426005111/http://www.whiov.ac.cn/tzgg_105342/202002/t20200219_5502325.html |archive-date=26 April 2020 |url-status=dead}} In February 2020, in a move that raised concerns regarding intellectual property rights,{{Cite news |title=China Wants to Patent Gilead's Experimental Coronavirus Drug |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-05/china-is-trying-to-patent-gilead-s-experimental-coronavirus-drug |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200206064149/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-05/china-is-trying-to-patent-gilead-s-experimental-coronavirus-drug |archive-date=6 February 2020 |access-date=2020-02-05 |website=Bloomberg News |date=5 February 2020}} the institute applied for a patent in China for the use of remdesivir, an experimental drug owned by Gilead Sciences, which the institute found inhibited the virus in vitro.{{cite journal |title=Remdesivir and chloroquine effectively inhibit the recently emerged novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in vitro |date=4 February 2020 |journal=Nature |first1=Shi |last1=Zhengli |author2=Team of 10 researchers at the WIV |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=269–271 |author1-link=Shi Zhengli |doi=10.1038/s41422-020-0282-0 |pmid=32020029 |pmc=7054408}} The WIV said it would not exercise its new Chinese patent rights "if relevant foreign companies intend to contribute to the prevention and control of China's epidemic."{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/health/coronavirus-treatments.html |title=China Begins Testing an Antiviral Drug in Coronavirus Patients |first=Denise |last=Grady |newspaper=The New York Times |date=6 February 2020 |access-date=8 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200208044014/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/health/coronavirus-treatments.html |archive-date=8 February 2020 |url-status=live}}

In April 2020, the Trump administration terminated an NIH grant to research how coronaviruses spread from bats to humans.{{Cite journal |last=Subbaraman |first=Nidhi |date=21 August 2020 |title='Heinous!': Coronavirus researcher shut down for Wuhan-lab link slams new funding restrictions |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02473-4 |journal=Nature (journal) |language=en |doi=10.1038/d41586-020-02473-4 |pmid=32826989 |s2cid=225249608 |access-date=12 February 2021 |archive-date=14 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214194113/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02473-4 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |date=30 April 2020 |title=Under Political Pressure, NIH Blacklists Wuhan Virology Lab |url=https://www.aip.org/fyi/2020/under-political-pressure-nih-blacklists-wuhan-virology-lab |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210222151338/https://www.aip.org/fyi/2020/under-political-pressure-nih-blacklists-wuhan-virology-lab |archive-date=22 February 2021 |access-date=2021-02-12 |website=American Institute of Physics |language=en}} New York-based, NIH–funded EcoHealth Alliance has been the subject of controversy and increased scrutiny due to its ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.{{cite news |title=In Major Shift, NIH Admits Funding Risky Virus Research in Wuhan |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/10/nih-admits-funding-risky-virus-research-in-wuhan |magazine=Vanity Fair |date=22 October 2021}}{{cite news |title=NIH says grantee failed to report experiment in Wuhan that created a bat virus that made mice sicker |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/nih-says-grantee-failed-report-experiment-wuhan-created-bat-virus-made-mice-sicker |work=Science |date=21 October 2021}}{{cite news |title=Fauci stands by gain-of-function research denials, defends collaboration with Wuhan lab |url=https://denvergazette.com/news/fauci-stands-by-gain-of-function-research-denials-defends-collaboration-with-wuhan-lab/article_8ba272e2-2940-532c-9820-4b015465a246.html |work=The Denver Gazette |date=October 24, 2021}} Under political pressure, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) withdrew funding to EcoHealth Alliance in July 2020.{{cite news |title=NIH Presses U.S. Nonprofit for Information on Wuhan Virology Lab |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/nih-presses-u-s-nonprofit-for-information-on-wuhan-virology-lab-11597829400 |access-date=6 June 2021 |work=The Wall Street Journal}}

Ralph Baric and Rachel Graham wrote in 2020 that the large collections of bat virome samples stored at the facility, its close proximity to the early outbreak, and questions about its operating procedures, could fuel "speculation" about the institute's role in the origin of COVID-19.{{cite journal | last=Graham | first=Rachel L. | last2=Baric | first2=Ralph S. | title=SARS-CoV-2: Combating Coronavirus Emergence | journal=Immunity | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=52 | issue=5 | year=2020 | issn=1074-7613 | doi=10.1016/j.immuni.2020.04.016 | doi-access=free | pages=734–736 | url=https://www.cell.com/article/S1074761320301746/pdf | access-date=2025-03-19| pmc=7207110 }}

{{main|COVID-19 lab leak theory}}

The laboratory has been the focus of conspiracy theories{{cite journal |title=SARS-CoV-2, Covid-19, and the debunking of conspiracy theories |vauthors=Hakim MS |date=February 2021 |journal=Rev Med Virol |volume=31 |issue=6 |pages=e2222 |doi=10.1002/rmv.2222 |type=Review |pmid=33586302 |pmc=7995093 |doi-access=free}}{{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=Nicholas G. |title=Human Infection Challenge Studies: a Test for the Social Value Criterion of Research Ethics |journal=mSphere |date=26 August 2020 |volume=5 |issue=4 |doi=10.1128/mSphere.00669-20 |pmid=32669462 |pmc=7364225 |quote=Some may verge on the unbelievable, such as the conspiracy theory that gain-of-function research conducted on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like coronaviruses in 2015 is connected to the emergence of COVID-19 that made it to British tabloids}} and unsubstantiated speculation about the origin of the virus.{{cite journal |last1=Graham |first1=Rachel L. |last2=Baric |first2=Ralph S. |date=May 2020 |title=SARS-CoV-2: Combating Coronavirus Emergence |journal=Immunity |volume=52 |issue=5 |pages=734–736 |doi=10.1016/j.immuni.2020.04.016 |pmc=7207110 |pmid=32392464 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal |last=Maxmen |first=Amy |date=27 May 2021 |title=Divisive COVID 'lab leak' debate prompts dire warnings from researchers |journal=Nature (journal) |language=en |volume=594 |issue=7861 |pages=15–16 |doi=10.1038/d41586-021-01383-3 |pmid=34045757 |bibcode=2021Natur.594...15M |quote=politicians, journalists, talk-show hosts and some scientists have put forward unsubstantiated claims linking the coronavirus to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), in the Chinese city where COVID-19 was first detected |s2cid=235232290 |doi-access=free}} This has been a source of political tension between China and other countries, including Australia{{cite web |title=Australia called for a COVID-19 probe. China responded with a trade war |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-03/heres-what-happened-between-china-and-australia-in-2020/13019242 |website=ABC News |date=2 January 2021 |access-date=27 July 2021}} and the United States.{{cite news |last1=Stanway |first1=David |last2=Shen |first2=Samuel |title=China disease expert says COVID-19 origins probe should shift to U.S.- Global Times |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-disease-expert-says-covid-19-origins-probe-should-shift-us-global-times-2021-06-17/ |access-date=24 June 2021 |agency=Reuters |date=2021-06-17}} There have been allegations that the initial outbreak was provoked by either manipulation or accidental release of a virus held in the WIV facilities, and that the participants may have conspired to cover it up.{{cite web |title=The 'Occam's Razor Argument' Has Not Shifted in Favor of a COVID Lab Leak |url=https://www.snopes.com/news/2021/07/16/lab-leak-evidence/ |website=Snopes.com |date=16 July 2021 |publisher=Snopes |access-date=21 July 2021}} Shi Zhengli denied that there was a connection between the WIV and the emergence of COVID-19.{{cite journal |last1=Zheng-Li |first1=Shi |title=Origins of SARS-CoV-2: Focusing on Science |journal=Infectious Diseases & Immunity |year=2021 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=3–4 |doi=10.1097/ID9.0000000000000008 |pmid=38630114 |pmc=8057312}} In February 2021, after investigations in Wuhan, the WHO team said a laboratory leak origin for COVID-19 was "extremely unlikely",{{cite news |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/feb/09/coronavirus-live-news-who-says-it-is-too-early-to-dismiss-astrazeneca-vaccine?page=with:block-6022663c8f0859f30ce20396#block-6022663c8f0859f30ce20396 |date=9 February 2021 |title=Wuhan investigation doesn't dramatically change picture of outbreak, WHO official says |quote=The lab leak hypothesis is an extremely unlikely pathway for COVID-19 and will not require further study as part of their work in studying the origins of the virus, Embarek says. |access-date=9 February 2021 |archive-date=9 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209201752/https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/feb/09/coronavirus-live-news-who-says-it-is-too-early-to-dismiss-astrazeneca-vaccine?page=with:block-6022663c8f0859f30ce20396#block-6022663c8f0859f30ce20396 |url-status=live}}{{Cite journal |last1=Mallapaty |first1=Smriti |last2=Maxmen |first2=Amy |last3=Callaway |first3=Ewen |date=10 February 2021 |title='Major stones unturned': COVID origin search must continue after WHO report, say scientists |journal=Nature (journal) |volume=590 |issue=7846 |pages=371–372 |language=en |doi=10.1038/d41586-021-00375-7 |pmid=33574591 |bibcode=2021Natur.590..371M |doi-access= |s2cid=231901451}} confirming what experts expected about the likely origins and early transmission.{{cite news |url=https://apnews.com/article/who-coronavirus-experts-learned-in-wuhan-86549d1189f3d174273a26e39d177d05 |title=EXPLAINER: What the WHO coronavirus experts learned in Wuhan |date=11 February 2021 |first1=Emily Wang |last1=Fujiyama |first2=Ken |last2=Moritsugu |newspaper=AP News |access-date=12 February 2021 |archive-date=27 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227100554/https://apnews.com/article/who-coronavirus-experts-learned-in-wuhan-86549d1189f3d174273a26e39d177d05 |url-status=live}} However, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the report's conclusions were not definitive and data had been withheld from investigators.{{cite news |last1=Miller |first1=John |last2=Nebehay |first2=Stephanie |date=31 March 2021 |title=Data withheld from WHO team probing COVID-19 origins in China: Tedros |language=en |agency=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-who-china-report-idUSKBN2BM26S |url-status=live |access-date=31 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731031020/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-who-china-report-idUSKBN2BM26S |archive-date=31 July 2021}} In response to the report, politicians, including Joe Biden{{cite web |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/05/26/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-the-investigation-into-the-origins-of-covid-19/ |title=Statement by President Joe Biden on the Investigation into the Origins of COVID-19 |date=16 May 2021 |website=White House |access-date=21 July 2021}} and Boris Johnson,{{Cite news |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3136810/eu-leaders-call-complete-access-china-full-covid-19-origins |title=Joe Biden, Boris Johnson call for further Covid-19 origins investigation in China |date=10 June 2021 |work=SMCP |access-date=21 July 2021}} as well as Ghebreyesus, have called for further investigations into the origins of COVID-19.{{cite web |url=https://www.who.int/news/item/30-03-2021-who-calls-for-further-studies-data-on-origin-of-sars-cov-2-virus-reiterates-that-all-hypotheses-remain-open |title=WHO calls for further studies, data on origin of SARS-CoV-2 virus, reiterates that all hypotheses remain open |date=30 March 2021 |website=WHO |access-date=14 June 2021}}{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-probe-idUSKBN2AC1UV |title=WHO says all hypotheses still open in probe into virus origins |date=12 February 2021 |agency=Reuters |access-date=14 June 2021}}{{cite journal |last1=Maxmen |first1=Amy |title=Divisive COVID 'lab leak' debate prompts dire warnings from researchers |journal=Nature (journal) |date=27 May 2021 |volume=594 |issue=7861 |pages=15–16 |doi=10.1038/d41586-021-01383-3 |pmid=34045757 |bibcode=2021Natur.594...15M |s2cid=235232290 |quote=The investigation concluded that an animal origin was much more likely than a lab leak. But since then, some politicians, journalists and scientists have put forward unsubstantiated claims linking the coronavirus to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), in the Chinese city where COVID-19 was first detected. |doi-access=free}}{{cite news |last1=Gorman |first1=James |last2=Zimmer |first2=Carl |title=Another Group of Scientists Calls for Further Inquiry into Origins of the Coronavirus |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/13/science/virus-origins-lab-leak-scientists.html |work=The New York Times |date=13 May 2021 |access-date=27 May 2021 |archive-date=25 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525212823/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/13/science/virus-origins-lab-leak-scientists.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |title=WHO chief says it was 'premature' to rule out COVID lab leak |url=https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-world-news-health-science-coronavirus-pandemic-c0c594f9060f676c0ea48c2d1c69daec |agency=Associated Press |date=15 July 2021}} The scientific opinion that an accidental leak is possible, but unlikely, has remained steady.See, for example, the following:

• {{cite news |vauthors=Taylor A |title=Analysis - The Wuhan lab-leak theory is getting more attention. That's because key evidence is still missing. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/05/27/wuhan-lab-theory-evidence/ |newspaper=The Washington Post}}
• {{cite news |vauthors=Beaumont P |title=Did Covid come from a Wuhan lab? What we know so far |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/27/did-covid-come-from-a-wuhan-lab-what-we-know-so-far |work=The Guardian |date=27 May 2021}}
• {{cite news |vauthors=Rogers A |title=The Covid-19 Lab Leak Theory Is a Tale of Weaponized Uncertainty |url=https://www.wired.com/story/covid-19-lab-leak-theory-weaponized-uncertainty/ |access-date=2 June 2021 |magazine=Wired}}
• {{cite journal |vauthors=Graham RL, Baric RS |title=SARS-CoV-2: Combating Coronavirus Emergence |journal=Immunity |volume=52 |issue=5 |pages=734–736 |date=May 2020 |pmid=32392464 |pmc=7207110 |doi=10.1016/j.immuni.2020.04.016 |quote="the available data argue overwhelmingly against any scientific misconduct or negligence"}}
• {{cite journal |vauthors=Barh D, Silva Andrade B, Tiwari S, Giovanetti M, Góes-Neto A, Alcantara LC, Azevedo V, Ghosh P |display-authors=6 |title=Natural selection versus creation: a review on the origin of SARS-COV-2 |language=italian |journal=Le Infezioni in Medicina |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=302–311 |date=September 2020 |pmid=32920565 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32920565/ |access-date=15 June 2021 |quote="Conspiracy theories about a possible accidental leak from either of these laboratories known to be experimenting with bats and bat CoVs that has shown some structural similarity to human SARS-CoV-2 has been suggested, but largely dismissed by most authorities."}}
• {{cite journal |vauthors=Adil MT, Rahman R, Whitelaw D, Jain V, Al-Taan O, Rashid F, Munasinghe A, Jambulingam P |display-authors=6 |title=SARS-CoV-2 and the pandemic of COVID-19 |journal=Postgraduate Medical Journal |volume=97 |issue=1144 |pages=110–116 |date=February 2021 |pmid=32788312 |doi=10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-138386 |quote="the findings suggest that the laboratory incident hypothesis is extremely unlikely to explain introduction of the virus into the human population" |s2cid=221124011 |doi-access=free |pmc=10016996}}
• {{cite journal |vauthors=Hakim MS |title=SARS-CoV-2, Covid-19, and the debunking of conspiracy theories |journal=Reviews in Medical Virology |pages=e2222 |date=February 2021 |volume=31 |issue=6 |pmid=33586302 |pmc=7995093 |doi=10.1002/rmv.2222 |quote="There is today no evidence that such an accident had happened with SARS-CoV-2."}}{{Cite web |last=Lanese |first=Nicoletta |date=2023-06-26 |title=Declassified US intelligence report finds no evidence of coronavirus 'lab leak' from Wuhan institute |url=https://www.livescience.com/health/coronavirus/declassified-us-intelligence-report-finds-no-evidence-of-coronavirus-lab-leak-from-wuhan-institute |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=Live Science |language=en}}

The Institute contains the following research centers:{{cite web |url=http://english.whiov.cas.cn/About_Us2016/Administration2016/ |title=Administration |website=Wuhan Institute of Virology, CAS |access-date=26 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729175613/http://english.whiov.cas.cn/About_Us2016/Administration2016/ |archive-date=29 July 2019 |url-status=live}}

• Center for Emerging Infectious Disease
• Chinese Virus Resources and Bioinformatics Center
• Center of Applied and Environmental Microbiology
• Department of Analytical Biochemistry and Biotechnology
• Department of Molecular Virology

• Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
• Investigations into the origin of COVID-19
• Scientific Advisory Group for Origins of Novel Pathogens
• Zoonosis

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