In Wuhan, the city where the outbreak first occurred, the “South China Seafood Wholesale Market”, which was first identified by Chinese officials as the source of the virus, has been completely cleaned up, and research data from the Wuhan Institute of Virus Research, another suspected source of the virus, is suspected to have been removed by Chinese authorities.
The Mail on Sunday found that a large amount of important information published by China’s National Natural Science Foundation in the past involving China’s Wuhan Institute of Virus Research is no longer available online.
The hundreds of pages of deleted material include research conducted by the Wuhan Institute of Virus Research and important research data by Shi Zhengli, director of the Wuhan Institute of Virus Research Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases. Shi, 56, known as “Batwoman,” often collected samples for research at bat caves and was seen as a key figure in knowing the source of the Wuhan pneumonia virus.
The report noted that more than 300 studies published by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, including those on animal-to-human transmission of the disease, have all been invisible.
Iain Duncan Smith, former leader of the British Conservative Party and a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, was quoted as saying that China was trying to hide evidence and that it was blocking a thorough investigation into the source of the outbreak.
Recent Comments