Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jul 22, 2025

Coronavirus Likely ‘Escaped’ From Wuhan Lab, Ex-CDC Chief Claims

Coronavirus Likely ‘Escaped’ From Wuhan Lab, Ex-CDC Chief Claims

The WHO is due to release its report summarising the current findings on the origins of the highly-contagious COVID-19 coronavirus virus which has killed over 2,750,000 people around the world and infected and sickened another 125 million.

Robert Redfield, who led the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, believes that, based on the findings, the coronavirus “escaped” from a lab in Wuhan, in the Chinese province of Hubei, and began spreading much earlier than previously suspected, in September 2019, he told CNN in a clip televised on Friday.

“Other people don’t believe that. That’s fine. Science will eventually figure it out”, the former top health official under US President Donald Trump noted.

Redfield suggests posited that the virus’s strength and the way it spreads, easily and quickly, are cues of it having being developed in a laboratory. He noted that if it had originated from animals, as the most prominent theory goes, it would have taken a much greater amount of time for it to adapt to new hosts before effectively spreading between humans.

“It takes a while for it to figure out how to become more and more efficient in human-to-human transmission. I just don’t think this makes biological sense”.

When asked whether he believes the lab was going to great lengths to make the virus more efficient, Redfield shared his own lab experience, noting that perfectionism is typical in these matters:

“Let’s just say, I have a coronavirus, and I’m working on it -- most of us in the lab are trying to grow [the] virus,” he said. “We try to make it grow better and better and better and better, so we can do experiments and figure out about it. That’s the way I put it together”.

Redfield said he is “not implying any intentionality”, nor is he accusing Beijing of intentionally allowing the virus to escape the lab, which would otherwise be in line with Trump claims of the novel virus being a “China virus” or “Kung Flu”, a sobriquet deemed derogatory and offensive.

Beijing hit back at the time that the first the allegations arrived, declaring that it would never withhold any information, passing it instead on to the international community as soon as government officials verified and approved the data on the newly emerged coronavirus strain.

The roots of the virus remain unidentified officially, a continuing source of contention in the global research community.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and chief medical advisor to US President Joe Biden, previously worked alongside Redfield, and noted on Friday that the ex-official’s opinion is not shared by a majority of the top brass in US health services.

The World Health Organization, which earlier found no evidence that the virus spread before December 2019, is meanwhile expected to release a report on COVID-19 origins this month, informed by an extensive 17-strong scientific team.

All Eyes on Upcoming Report


There are to date four main theories, including that the highly-contagious virus came from a laboratory in Wuhan, but research by scientists indicates that the virus was most likely transferred to humans after spreading and adapting from bats to some intermediary species. It has not been made clear what this middle host is.

The Biden administration has concerns about a lack of transparency and data throughout the preparation of the report, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Friday. She refused, though, to specify whether Biden sticks to a particular view on the likely origins of the virus, adding that the much-awaited report is due soon.

“They actually delayed the release of that report, which we were encouraged by. We’ll have to take a look at it and make sure we have access to the underlying information,” Psaki said, reiterating calls for an international investigation into the ongoing global pandemic.

The novel coronavirus, which prompted WHO to first declare a health emergency and then a pandemic, resulting in a significant percentage of the developed world going into lockdown, has to date caused over 2,750,000 deaths and over 125 million infections, according to data collated by the Johns Hopkins University.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
×