The incident where some miners and researchers fell ill in a bat cave in the south-western Chinese province of Yunnan, is haunting China again. US based researchers have claimed that medical records of those miners and the researchers could throw light on whether the Coronavirus was circulating in other regions among wildlife before it hit Wuhan. Hence, US researchers are urging China to share medical records of those people who had visited bat caves in 2012 and 2019.

This development comes close on heels after US President Joe Biden has ordered the US intelligence community to dig out about the origin of SARS-CoV-2, how it arrived in Wuhan and also examine the lab-leak theory.

Also Read: What can India learn from the Tenth man principle

President Biden’s chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci stated that the medical records could throw light on the exact origin of the causative virus behind Covid19 pandemic. He added that it is entirely possible that the origins of SARS-CoV-2 were in the cave and the virus either started spreading naturally or went through the lab.

Dr. Fauci had earlier stated that he believes that the virus originated naturally, but he was not 100% certain about that.

After the order given by President Biden and the statements given by former MI6 boss on the origins of Covid19, former US President Trump went all vocal in reiterating his stance on the origin of Covid19. He declared that he was right about the China virus coming from Wuhan Lab. He said, “Now everyone, even so-called “enemy”, are beginning to say that President Trump was right about China virus coming from Wuhan Lab.”

Also See: Cyber warfare from China-part-II

An increasing number of national governments and scientists are calling for further investigation on the origin of Covid19. China vehemently rejects the idea that Covid-19 originated on its territory and the idea of the lab-leak theory.

Many scientists have opined that uncovering the origin of the virus is important for better understanding the risk levels of different human behaviours and preventing the next outbreak.

A U.S. intelligence report has suggested that several researchers at a prominent Wuhan lab studying bat coronaviruses became ill in November 2019. This has made the “accidental lab transmission” a more credible hypothesis for some.

It is worthwhile to note that Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) was the first in China to achieve the highest level of bio-containment, known as Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4). An incident one year prior to the outbreak paints an opposite picture. Some U.S. diplomats visited the lab in 2018. They had raised deep concerns about vulnerabilities, including shortages of sufficiently trained technicians and investigators.

Also See: Cyber warfare from China-part-I

The China-WHO cooperation on Covid19 has been worth observation. In January 2021, a delegation of WHO scientists had travelled to Wuhan for a four-week joint study with Chinese counterparts. The international team followed many lines of investigation. Natural zoonotic transmission was the most likely among several possibilities of infection-transmission. But scientists are yet to find samples of SARS-CoV-2 in any animals thought to be a possible host.

Public health experts around the world stated that uncovering how this pandemic started can help prevent the next one. A clear understanding of how a virus makes its way to humans is very crucial epidemiologically. It sheds light on the risks associated with different societal behaviours. These include various forms of human-animal interaction, such as farming, herding, and selling animals, as well as scientific research in the field or in laboratories.

Also See: New mutants of Coronavirus

Finding out the virus’s origin in humans improves the scientific understanding of how such viruses work, particularly how they move and change across species. Experts in virology, diseases and public health are already urging governments to make major investments to detect future epidemic threats. An independent task force of the think-tank cum publisher “Council of foreign relations” has recommended an integrated network of national epidemic surveillance systems.

The heavy economic toll that comes with major health crises has been demonstrated by this pandemic. The cost of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States alone would amount to at least $16 trillion, as estimated by Harvard University economists, in late 2020.

Also Read: Invisible and enigmatic scare the most

Over-reliance on intelligence community

WH has recently released a statement on the investigation into the origins of COVID-19. The report is composed of a little more than 300 words. In the report, “Intelligence Community” (IC) is mentioned six times, but no trace of “science” can be found.

This shows the more than needed favouring inclination given by the government towards the intelligence community. In this regard one must not forget what had happened in the invasion of Iraq, 2003, where the country was accused of having WMDs. That led to deaths of civilians and collapses of families. The so-called evidence behind the intelligence of alleged possession of WMDs was merely a bottle of detergent. That proved beyond doubt that the agency which had successfully hunted down OBL had erred in the case of Iraqi WMD scenario.

Therefore, placing entire responsibility of tracing the origins of Covid19 on the shoulders of the gentlemen of Langley can be a bit far-fetched. The better approach would be to take inputs of the experts in public health, virology, medicine, biocontainment, genetics, viral phylogeny, Viral BRN while analysing the intel-data gathered in the field by sleuths.

Placing the responsibility solely on the intelligence community can hamper the international cooperation on tracing the origin of Covid19, which is exactly what is needed at this moment.