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| Lab in Wuhan |
U.S. president Donald Trump is on the forefront and has been, aggressively, firing salvos on China's biological war against world number one economy. Trump and many Americans believe that China has, somehow or the other, succeeded in weakening the U.S. economy. The world number economy was never hurt so severely even by 9/11 (September, 2011) terrorist attacks on World Trade Center.
The attacks resulted in 2,977 fatalities, over 25,000 injuries, and caused at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage to the U.S. economy. Not only this, dust-related cancer and respiratory diseases in the years following the attacks killed many people.
Almost a decade later, U.S economy has been rattled by the coronavirus lockdown. Goldman Sachs has forecast that U.S's economy will shrink by annually, minus 34 per cent in the second quarter and unemployment could soar 15 per cent. In the third quarter, there could be some recovery if contagion is controlled. On the other hand, a Nikkei survey of 29 economists has predicted that China's economy may contract by 3.7 per cent in January-March quarter and will slow to 3.3 per cent growth for all of 2020. This is much less than the contraction in U.S economy.
Advanced economies like the U.S. see even worse impact of periodical disturbances than in China. That is because face-to-face service industries — the kind of businesses that go into a tailspin when fearful people withdraw from one another — tend to dominate economies in high-income countries more than they do in relatively low-income like China and India. So, a broad outbreak of the disease in them could be even worse for their economies than in China. That is because face-to-face service industries — the kind of businesses that go into a tailspin when fearful people withdraw from one another — tend to dominate economies in high-income countries more than they do in China.
That's why president Trump is angry at China and leaves no occasion to attack China. Trump has accused China of deliberately causing the coronavirus outbreak that has killed over 41,000 Americans . Trump has threatened of dire consequences if the country is found to be “knowingly responsible.”
Now, the existence of a lab in Wuhan has fueled conspiracy theories that the germ spread from the facility. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that US officials are doing a "full investigation" into how the virus "got out into the world". A high-security biosafety laboratory in Wuhan has now become the cradle of the pandemic.
However, Chinese scientists say the virus has jumped from an animal to humans in a market that sold wildlife in Wuhan. China is now quoting the WHO in its support . The World Health Organization has claimed that there is no evidence that the coronavirus originated in a lab in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the epidemic first emerged in late 2019.
U.S. has even accused the WHO chief,Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, an Ethiopian microbiologist and internationally recognized malaria researcher, of siding with China. Director-General of the World Health Organization since 2017, Tedros is the first first African in the role and was helped by China to reach the coveted post.
There are some key questions about the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV):
*The institute is home to the China Center for Virus Culture Collection, the largest virus bank in Asia which preserves more than 1,500 strains, according to its website.
*The complex contains Asia's first maximum security lab equipped to handle Class 4 pathogens (P4) -- dangerous viruses that pose a high risk of person-to-person transmission, such as Ebola.
*The institute also has a P3 laboratory that has been in operation since 2012.
* A poster outside the complex read, "Strong Prevention and Control, Don't Panic, Listen to Official Announcements, Believe in Science, Don't Spread Rumors", according to news agency AFP.
Various conspiracy theories about the alleged origin of the coronavirus in the lab have flourished online. Only a fair and independent investigation can unveil the truth.
(Chander Sharma)