China / Laboratory in Wuhan denies any allegations of COVID-19 spread

The director of the Chinese laboratory, accused by the American media as a possible source of the new coronavirus, has categorically denied any responsibility for the spread of the virus.

"It's impossible for the virus to come from us," said Yuan Zhiming, director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the epicenter of the pandemic, in an interview with CGTN state television.

According to most scientists, the new coronavirus is most likely transmitted to humans by an animal. A market in the city of Wuhan is thought to be the center of coronavirus because live wild animals were sold there.

But the presence of this market a few kilometers away from this Institute of Virology has for months fueled the hypotheses of a virus leak from these sensitive structures.

"We know very well what types of research have been done at the institute and how viruses and samples are managed," added the director of the institute, which has a P4 laboratory, a high-security structure that houses the most dangerous types of viruses. known as Ebola.

According to the Washington Post, the U.S. embassy in Beijing, after several visits to the institute, warned U.S. authorities in 2018 of insufficient security measures in a laboratory that studied coronaviruses from bats.