The U.S. official confirmed that the details of the genetic makeup of some of the earliest samples of coronavirus in China were removed from an American database where they were initially stored at the request of Chinese researchers. It was removed as it was adding concerns over secrecy surrounding the outbreak and its origin.
The US National Institute of Health on Wednesday said, the data was submitted in March 2020 to the US-based Sequence Read Archive, three months later in June, they were “requested to be withdrawn” by the same researcher. The genetic sequences came from the Chinese city Wuhan where the Covid-19 outbreak was initially reported.
As per the agency, the reason cited while withdrawing was that the sequence information had been updated and was been submitted to another database.
The agency said, “Submitting investigators hold the rights to their data and can request withdrawal of the data. NIH can't speculate on motive beyond the investigator's stated intentions.”
American virologist Jesse Bloom said that the disappearance of the genetic sequences from the database raises doubt about what else from the Wuhan outbreak the Chinese government is protecting.
Bloom further said it didn’t provide definitive details on where and how the virus originated, as he is subsequently working to recover the information.
Scientists from around the globe have been frustrated by China’s efforts to deflect the investigations into the origins of the coronavirus, especially the possibility that it leaked from a Wuhan laboratory.
Earlier this year (in February), a World Health Organization expert team visited China for an investigation and concluded their report as the virus has been transferred from bats to human beings. But now, the team has been criticized as being premature as they were not allowed access to raw data.
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U.S. President Joe Biden has ordered American intelligence agencies to probe the issue again, while China has always denied that the Wuhan laboratory had any link to the outbreak.
Bloom refers to the virus said, “I don't think we can say very much with high confidence.” He added that his findings “remind us of how little we know.”