Wuhan Lab to Receive US Taxpayer Funding to Conduct Bat Research Until 2024?

 

Wuhan Lab to Receive US Taxpayer Funding to Conduct Bat Research Until 2024? 

The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is eligible to receive U.S. taxpayer funding to conduct animal research until January 2024, the National Institute of Health said. 

The lab that is at the centre of widespread speculation that the deadly coronavirus entered the human population in China following an accidental lab leak. Researchers at the lab were studying bat-based coronaviruses before the outbreak, research that was backed by $600,000 in U.S. taxpayer funds that were routed to the lab through EcoHealth Alliance – a nongovernmental research group that focuses on emerging diseases caused by human and animal interactions. 

The president of EcoHealth Alliance, Peter Daszak, was the only American member of the World Health Organization (WHO) delegation that investigated the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in China in January and this month. 

While the delegation is yet to release a report on its findings, Daszak said the White House should accept their conclusion that it was “extremely unlikely” the virus could have leaked from the Wuhan lab.