A recent Australian study has once again put the focus back on the infamous Wuhan lab, alleged to be the source of the deadly new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 after a prominent scientist behind the study claimed that the new coronavirus was optimally designed in a cell-cultured lab to attack human cells.
The study by a team of Australian scientists hinted the global coronavirus pandemic was human-made after they found that the SARS-CoV-2 was most likely genetically engineered for attacking human cells, rather than animal cells.
In an interview with Sharri Markson host of "Sharri" Sundays at 6 pm on Sky News, Nikolai Petrovsky, Professor of Medicine at Flinders University, who is leading the study revealed that his research team is in favor of the theory that the COVID-19 causing news coronavirus was optimized for attacking human cells.
"The two possibilities which I think are both still open is that it was a chance transmission of a virus from an as yet unidentified animal to human. The other possibility is that it was an accidental release of the virus from a laboratory," Professor Petrovsky said.
"Certainly we can't exclude the possibility that this came from a laboratory experiment rather than from an animal. They are both open possibilities," said Professor Petrovsky, who is a prominent Australian scientist with over 20 years of experience developing vaccines against pandemic influenza, Ebola and animal SARS.
The team led by Professor Petrovsky in the course of their study found a strange aspect in the COVID-19 causing new coronavirus. The team found that the virus attached itself to the protein on the lung-cells more tightly of humans than it did with animals.
"It was like it was designed to infect humans," he said.
He open support to the Wuhan lab leak theory has once again put the focus on China and its culpability. Professor Petrovsky has advocated for starting an immediate inquiry instead of waiting out for the pandemic to get over. "The idea of putting it off to the pandemic is over, it would be a mistake," he said.
"I'm certainly very much in favor of a scientific investigation. Its only objective should be to get to the bottom of how did this pandemic happen and how do we prevent a future pandemic.... not to have a witch-hunt."
Note: The study led by Nikolai Petrovsky, Professor of Medicine at Flinders University has been published on a repository site of Cornell University, with a note that it is not be considered "established information" till experts come out with their opinion.
