US specialists from EcoHealth Alliance were studying coronaviruses at several laboratories in the United States, as well as in Wuhan, before the initial outbreak of the infection in China, a study conducted by Project Veritas said, OpIndia reports.
In March 2018, EcoHealth Alliance asked the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to fund scientific research on bat-borne coronaviruses. The agency rejected the request, assuming that such work could be too dangerous. In addition, such work would be conducted in violation of the previously imposed ban on the research to enhance the properties of various viruses.
Nevertheless, the US National Institute of Allergic and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) headed by Dr. Anthony Fauci later approved the project, and scientists proceeded to their research, including at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. Thus, US specialists could be involved in the creation of the new virus that triggered the global pandemic, Project Veritas concluded.
The organization refers to a letter from a person named as Major Joseph Murphy, who worked for DARPA. In the letter, the expert claimed that SARS-CoV-2 was originally a US-made recombinant bat vaccine or its precursor virus. All the details of the research were concealed after the infection began to spread around the world.
At the same time, Fauci had previously swore under oath to US Congress that his agency had never been involved in such research. EcoHealth Alliance chief Peter Daszak became one of the first scientists to have rejected the theory about a Wuhan laboratory that allegedly let the novel virus out of the bag into the world. In addition, he was a member of the team of WHO experts who were sent to China to establish the origin of the coronavirus pandemic.
In September 2021, Intercept Magazine reported that the United States had been sponsoring a study of coronaviruses in China. It was clarified that more than $3 million was allocated for that purpose in 2014-2019.
Prior to that, US intelligence services completed an investigation into the origin of the new coronavirus infection SARS-CoV-2. They came to conclusion that coronavirus was not a development of biological weapons. They could not explain the origin of the new infection, though.
Washington officials have repeatedly stated that the cause of the first outbreak of coronavirus could be a biological leak from a laboratory in Wuhan. At the same time, China has repeatedly urged the WHO to check US laboratories to find the origin of the pandemic.