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The need for a no-holds-barred investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic is more compelling than ever following new revelations about the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Footage from inside the facility, not seen previously and obtained by Sharri Markson, shows live bats being kept in cages. The finding debunks claims by a World Health Organisation investigator, British zoologist Peter Daszak, who said in December last year that the notion the laboratory kept bats was “a widely circulated conspiracy theory”. But Dr Daszak appeared to backtrack on his earlier denials this month when he admitted investigators did not ask the Wuhan Institute of Virology if it had bats. “I wouldn’t be surprised if, like many other virology labs, they were trying to set up a bat colony,” he tweeted on June 1.
The official Chinese Academy of Sciences video to mark the launch of the biosafety level 4 laboratory in May 2017 speaks about the security precautions that are in place if an accident occurs. The 10-minute video shows bats in a cage at the institute, with vision of a scientist feeding a worm to a bat. The footage was part of Markson’s investigation for her upcoming book, What Really Happened in Wuhan.