by Renzo Milanese

There is no irrefutable evidence, but signs, rumors, testimonies and coincidences. For the US, the virus is a "Chinese coronavirus", or "Wuhan", the work of laboratories in China. Beijing’s counter charge: It was brought to Wuhan by US military last October! From October to November, the authorities knew of the dangerousness of the virus, but they censored the news.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - The hypothesis that coronavirus, which has become a pandemic, originated in a laboratory in Wuhan is plausible and cannot be dismissed a priori, according to Fr. Renzo Milanese, PIME missionary in Hong Kong since 1972.

The priest specifies that the virus could have been "leaked" and not "created" in the laboratory. Citing studies and research, as well as testimonials from authoritative journalists in the area, he comes to the conclusion that "it seems undeniable that a [research] center was directly involved with research on viruses, even if not necessarily on the creation of a virus".

It should be stressed that there is no irrefutable evidence on this conclusion, and for now it seems difficult to prove so far, given that many Chinese testimonials, videos and articles on the subject are regularly blocked.

The hypothesis that Covid-19 was the result of research carried out by a Wuhan laboratory engaged in the study of bacteriological wars emerged in late January and is also supported by political figures from the United States, such as Mike Pompeo, who defines the virus "The Chinese coronavirus", or "Wuhan's".

But yesterday, China decreed a Twitter fight, accusing the United States of being the source of the virus. Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry wrote that "It could have been the US army that brought the epidemic to Wuhan ... America owes us an explanation!". The accusation appears to be linked to the participation of members of the US military in the World Military Games, held in Wuhan last October, which brought together representatives from over 100 nations.

The fact remains that Chinese government data document the first coronavirus sufferers (or rather: a virus similar to Sars) as of November 17, 2019. The government, after silencing doctors and journalists on the epidemic, only sounded the alarm January 23.

On the hypothesis whether the Covid-19 virus was created or escaped from a laboratory, I rely on the news arriving in Hong Kong from mainland China. The material at my disposal are videos of renowned journalists in Hong Kong. The videos are in Cantonese and are published on Youtube, but some have beentaken down within days on high-up orders. First of all, a distinction must be made between "created virus" and "leaked virus".

The "created" virus

The first hypothesis ("virus created" in the laboratory) is defined by Beijing as a "conspiracy theory". It has been circulating in Hong Kong since before January 20, when the existence of the virus and its spread from person to person was recognized; the isolation of Wuhan City was announced three days later.

This theory has no evidence, but suspicions based on guesses and from "it is said".

A strange fact is that an exercise was held in Wuhan on September 18, 2019 to check for the possible spread of a coronavirus. The fact had been reported on websites and local newspapers, but the news disappeared. The authorities then clarified that the exercise referred to Sars-type coronaviruses.

Canadian and U.S. scientists were arrested on January 29, 2020, including the arrest of Charles Lieber (Harvard University). These scientists are linked to the "Thousand Talents Plan" which also cooperates with the Wuhan Institute of Virology. And here we stumble upon a story of espionage and counter-espionage on delicate scientific research.

Above all there is a widespread argument, which is taken as true by the people: the more the government undertakes to deny, the more it means that that thing is true. For their part, Chinese scientists have been mobilized into forces to offer evidence that the virus was not created in the laboratory.

The "fled" virus

The hypothesis that the virus escaped from the laboratory was first expressed by the well-known journalist Siu Yeuk (Yuk) Yuen (蕭 若 元), in a video dated January 30, 2020. The video was also on Youtube, but has been deleted; is still present on Facebook (see here). I don't know if it will disappear soon.

According to Siu, in October a Wuhan laboratory (from the acronym P4), after collecting various samples from local hospitals, found a new type of coronavirus in the body of an elderly person. Once the authorities were notified, they would have asked for a more detailed scientific report which was delivered on 26 November. On November 30 the news begins to circulate that there is a dangerous new virus.

Another well-known journalist, Chau Sze Tat (仇 思達) in a video from the 16 February 2020  outlined the  Covid-19 outbreak.

He cites an article written by two professors, one from Guangzhou's South China University of Technology and one from Wuhan University of Science and Technology. They claim the source of the outbreak is to be found in the CDC, a Wuhan research center, where experiments with bats would have infected the researchers and some infected bats would have fled the center.

Chau Sze Tat doubts that another center will be introduced in the search for the initial outbreak to ward off suspicions on the more famous and delicate P4. He cites other reports, officially released and then denied, that link the virus outbreak to people linked to a research center in Wuhan.

Debate may rage over which center it is, but at this point it seems undeniable that a center has been directly involved with research on viruses, although not necessarily on the creation of a virus. In other words, the virus passed from a research center in Wuhan early on.

More importantly there is also no question that the authorities were aware of the dangerousness of the virus, that they did not inform anyone and that they tried to keep the facts hidden.