Chinese Scientists Plan to Spread Highly Contagious 'Variant Coronavirus' in Cave Bats... Request $16 Billion Research Funding from US

A bat is flying. The photo is not directly related to any specific part of the article. Photo by Getty Images Bank

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] Chinese scientists reportedly planned to spread a highly contagious variant of the coronavirus to cave bats before the outbreak of COVID-19.

They requested research funding from an agency under the Trump administration, but the agency declined due to safety concerns.

On the 21st (local time), the British daily The Telegraph reported that Drastic, a web-based investigative team formed by scientists worldwide to investigate the origin of COVID-19, released documents containing this information.

According to the report, scientists at the Wuhan Institute in China planned to spread a new 'chimeric spike protein' of bat coronavirus, including skin-penetrating nanoparticles, to cave bats in Yunnan Province 18 months before the initial outbreak of COVID-19.

The media also reported that they planned to create a genetically enhanced chimeric virus to infect humans more easily. They later requested $14 million (about 16 billion KRW) in research funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under the U.S. Department of Defense.

The funding request was submitted by Peter Daszak, head of EcoHealth Alliance, who worked closely with the Wuhan Institute. The research team also included Dr. Shi Zhengli of the Wuhan Institute, known as the 'Bat Woman.'

However, DARPA at the time rejected the funding due to risks, stating that "it would clearly endanger the community."

According to the documents, the research team also wanted to insert human-specific cleavage sites into the bat coronavirus at that time.

COVID-19 Virus [Image Source=Yonhap News]

One of the leading factors believed to have given the Delta variant its strong infectivity is the 'furin-cleavage site' within the virus's spike protein.

The furin-cleavage site mutation appears in both the Alpha and Delta variants. Dr. Yan Limeng of the University of Hong Kong School of Public Health argued that this could not have been created naturally and raised suspicions that COVID-19 originated from the Wuhan Institute.

Meanwhile, a WHO COVID-19 researcher who requested anonymity stated, "The frightening part is that they were creating a contagious chimeric MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) virus," adding, "The fatality rate of such a virus is over 30%, making it at least ten times more deadly than SARS-CoV-2."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.