Some of you may remember the story of Dr. Li-Meng Yan. She’s a virologist from Hong Kong who was forced to flee from her home during the earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was investigating the cause of the outbreak and Chinese authorities were obviously less than pleased. Now, she is speaking out once again.
She co-authored a paper with three other writers and it has been published in multiple parts. In the first part of the paper, Dr. Li-Meng Yan claims that the virus’ genetic sequence proves that it was manipulated in a laboratory. Of course, this is the part where some will wonder what the Chinese government could have possibly gained from this manipulation.
That’s where the second part of the paper comes into play. The genetic techniques that are typically used in a gain of function research capacity could have been responsible for the creation of COVID-19. According to the paper, these techniques could have created the novel coronavirus from a bat coronavirus within the space of just six months.
Along with her co-authors, the virologist claims to note that the “SARS-CoV-2 shows biological characteristics that are inconsistent with a naturally occurring, zoonotic virus.” This paper has been titled “Unusual Features of the SARS-CoV-2 Genome Suggesting Sophisticated Laboratory Modification Rather Than Natural Evolution and Delineation of Its Probable Synthetic Route.”
When Dr. Yan made a recent appearance on a British talk show, she claimed that the original story that was put out by the Chinese government as a “smoke screen”. The hosts wanted to know more. Since the virus had not originally been found at a wet market, Dr. Yan was asked to provide more information. Her answer was a chilling one.
“It comes from the lab, the lab in Wuhan. And the lab is controlled by China’s government,” she said. From there, she promised that two reports would be issued and scientific evidence would be provided. The paper that was just published was the first of these two. We have taken a closer look at the paper and while we are not able to follow every word, Dr. Yan’s basic gist is easy enough to understand.
Basically, all of the evidence that the virus occurred naturally is tied to the existence of a different virus known as RaTG13. However, Dr. Yan is claiming that this virus does not even exist! According to her paper, COVID-19 is remarkably similar to two other viruses that have already been sequenced in this country.
The paper also claims that there is a receptor building motif at play here. We won’t pretend to know all of the science behind it but Dr. Yan says that the motif is responsible for determining the other species that can be infected by the virus. The paper also alleges that any manipulations that were introduced in a lab setting did not take place to implement.
The short version: the Chinese government would not have needed very much time or effort to handle this. Of course, there is a counter argument on the matter and there are those who still insist that the virus was not actually man made. We are going to have to wait and see. There are sure to be plenty of discussions taking place among the true experts in this field.
Maybe they will back up the assertions being made by Dr. Yan. Maybe they will say that she is full of it and they will break down all of the science-y terms in a way that is even easier for us to understand. If you take a look at the title page of the paper, it says that all of the authors are working with the Rule of Law Society & Rule of Law Foundation in New York.
This group says that they dedicated to exposing Chinese systems of corruption and we are hopeful. If you would like to hear from Dr. Yan herself, be sure to check out the video below. She explains how the aforementioned foundation assisted her in fleeing from Hong Kong.
