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☆ U.S. Suspends Funding for Group at Center of Covid Origins Fight
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Benjamin Mueller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Biden administration, under acute pressure from House lawmakers, moved on Wednesday to ban funding for a prominent virus-hunting nonprofit group whose work with Chinese scientists had put it at the heart of theories that Covid leaked from a lab. Republicans went further, demanding that Peter Daszak, the president of the nonprofit, EcoHealth Alliance, be criminally investigated. For EcoHealth, which relied on federal funding to study the threat of wild animal viruses, the loss of funding is another twist in a saga that has long dominated discussions of how the pandemic began. In April 2020, under orders from the Trump administration, the National Institutes of Health terminated a grant to EcoHealth amid President Donald J. Trump’s feud with China over the origin of the coronavirus. had failed to give a proper cause for ending the grant, which supplied an average of roughly $625,000 per year.

Persons: Peter Daszak, Trump, Donald J, Trump’s Organizations: Biden, Department of Health, Human Services, Republicans, EcoHealth Alliance, National Institutes of Health Locations: Wuhan, China

☆ US House Committee says China delayed releasing COVID-19 information for weeks and lied about sharing it immediately
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

China had a gene sequence of COVID-19 weeks before sharing it with the world, US lawmakers said. AdvertisementChina likely obtained COVID-19's first known gene sequence weeks before publicly releasing it, contrary to Beijing's claim that it immediately shared the information, the US House Energy & Commerce Committee said on Wednesday. Related storiesThe committee said this contradicted China's repeated claims that it released the gene sequence as soon as it obtained the information. The House committee said this example shows that China has been forthcoming with sharing vital medical information for fighting COVID-19. AdvertisementThe committee also raised concerns that the NIH had received a COVID-19 gene sequence but "apparently had no idea."

Persons: —, Lili Ren, Ren, China's, Biden, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Morgan Griffith, Brett Guthrie Organizations: Service, US, Energy, Commerce, National Institutes of Health, EcoHealth Alliance, of Health, Human Services, World Health Organization, CCP, NIH, HHS, Energy & Commerce Committee, Oversight, Rep Locations: China, Washington, Virginia, Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, Washington , DC

☆ Opinion | The Government Must Say What It Knows About Covid’s Origins
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Zeynep Tufekci | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

One of those named researchers, Ben Hu, is a leading scientist who has worked on bat coronaviruses related to SARS. In September 2021, DRASTIC also obtained a funding proposal that the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s U.S. collaborator, EcoHealth Alliance, submitted to the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The proposal called for using genetic engineering to perform experiments with bat SARS-like coronaviruses and modify them by inserting features that can increase their ability to infect humans. The feature could also have evolved naturally, and many scientists dismissed its significance as evidence that research set off the pandemic origins. (Some of the scientists have said they later changed their minds).

Persons: Ben Hu, Yu Ping Organizations: U.S, U.S ., Waste, Wuhan Institute of Virology’s, EcoHealth Alliance, Pentagon’s Defense, Research Projects Agency, Wuhan Institute, Virology Locations: Wuhan, U.S, coronaviruses

☆ Bat lands worldwide are besieged, seeding risk of a new pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +16 min

This collision – bats and humans competing for resources on territory long the domain of the bats – could trigger the next pandemic. As people destroy bat habitats worldwide, they are unwittingly helping bat-borne viruses mutate, multiply, and infect other species, including homo sapiens. For millennia, bat viruses lurked across the forests of West Africa and in other undisturbed parts of the world but posed little threat to humanity. They’re potent proliferators: Some roost tightly together and in close quarters with other bat species. Each of the bat viruses analyzed by Reuters has epidemic potential, according to the World Health Organization.

☆ House GOP asks Fauci and dozens of health officials to testify in investigation into Covid origins
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

House Republicans have asked former White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony to testify before Congress as they launch a new investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. "If there are oversight hearings I absolutely will cooperate fully and testify before the Congress," Fauci told reporters during his final briefing at the White House. He stepped down from his posts at the White House and at the helm of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in December. EcoHealth Alliance provided funding, which originated at NIH, to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to study coronaviruses. About $600,000 of that money went directly to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to study the threat posed by bat coronaviruses.

☆ Danemarca va omorî milioane de nurci din cauza infecțiilor cu coronavirus
▼ + stars: | 2020-11-06 | by ( ) www.jurnal.md time to read: +4 min

În Danemarca, unul dintre cei mai mari exportatori din lume de blană de nurcă, există cel puțin 15 milioane de nurci. Anunțul privind uciderea nurcilor din ferme a fost făcut miercuri de prim-ministrul Mette Frederiksen, care a susținut că forțele armate vor fi implicate în sacrificarea animalelor. Agenția de sănătate a menționat că Danemarca investighează în prezent importanța epidemiologică și virologică a acestor rezultate și va distruge comunitatea de nurci. Emma Hodcroft, geneticiană la Universitatea din Basel, Elveția, care monitorizează răspândirea noului coronavirus, a sfătuit publicul „să nu intre în panică”. În Danemarca, guvernul a identificat o variantă a virusului care s-a răspândit de la nurci la oameni.

Persons: ., Dr . Stanley Perlman, dr . Jonathan Epstein, Emma Hodcroft Organizations: Organizației Mondiale a Sănătății, Organizația Mondială a Sănătății, The New York Times, Universitatea din, Science Times Locations: Danemarca, Danemarcei, Universitatea din Iowa, Universitatea din Basel, Elveția, Statele Unite

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