2 years before the #CoronavirusPandemic, US officials visited #Wuhan's virology lab and warned DC that the lab’s work on bat coronaviruses and their potential human transmission represented a risk of a new #SARS-like #pandemic.

#COVID19 @ericgarland https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/14/state-department-cables-warned-safety-issues-wuhan-lab-studying-bat-coronaviruses/

#China's research was supposedly designed to prevent the next #SARS-like #pandemic, but scientists question whether they took unnecessary risks (yes).

There is NO evidence the new #coronavirus was engineered, "but that is not the same as saying it didn’t come from the lab."

The diplomatic cables sounded an alarm about the "grave safety concerns" at the #Wuhan lab, especially its dangerous work with bat coronaviruses.

The cables also suggest the possibility that the #pandemic could be the result of a lab accident (or leak) in #Wuhan.

“The idea that it was just a totally natural occurrence is circumstantial. The evidence it leaked from the lab is circumstantial. Right now, the ledger on the side of it leaking from the lab is packed with bullet points and there’s almost nothing on the other side.”

#China's story—that the #coronavirus emerged from a #Wuhan seafood market—is shaky. Research from China published in January showed that Patient 0–identified on 12/1–had no connection to the market, nor did >1/3 of the cases in the 1st cluster. Also, the market didn’t sell bats.

Again, there's NO evidence that this new #coronavirus was specifically engineered or purposely released. But it's plausible that the virus accidentally "leaked" from the #Wuhan biocontainment lab.

The mere fact that this is even a possibility should raise ALARMS.

I've been inside the US' biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) lab. These BSL-4 labs are specifically designed and operated to contain the world's most dangerous pathogens WITHOUT leaking.

The world must demand that #China provide full transparency of its research and operations in #Wuhan.

There's no doubt this #coronavirus originated in #China, whether from the #Wuhan seafood market or accidental leakage from Wuhan's BSL-4 virology lab.

Either way, China must be held accountable to close all wildlife markets permanently and allow a FULL investigation of its lab.