To think it’s pointless accusing the Chinese of lying.

[bluemoon77]

Trump seems to suspect the virus could have come from the lab rather than the meat market. Isn’t that going to be impossible to prove. Surely we have enough going on right now without having to worry about Trump making things worse.

Well he could be right!!

And if so,this could all happen again. How many weird viruses are sat in labs?

YABU. If they find out where it’s actually from, more chances of understanding the virus. It’s highly likely it was leaked from a lab in Wuhan and it needs to be investigated so that never happens again also.

I agree. I can't see what this achieves from a tactical perspective right now. I have no idea whether there's any truth in this but I don't think Trump does either and sure he has no evidence or he would have made it public by now.

It will just irritate the Chinese, making them less likely to support global efforts to get on top of the pandemic and will hurt trade relations with the US.

Like most of Trump's actions it seems to be a childish populist gesture calculated to appeal to his redneck base.

I agree. Whatever the truth, the virus is out. The Chinese are not open with information, neither are the Russians. I dont think there is anything to gain. If there were security issues at the lab or health issues at the market, the result is the same. We are to a degree dependant on China so nothing will happen

I think it came from the lab too.

Not a man made bio warfare job but somebody fucked up big time and wasn't careful enough with security measures.

It's already known that there was concerns about the security at the facility which does actually study viruses.

All it would take would be one person being careless.

Also why would China lie about the figures? Silence doctors so the rest of the world wouldn’t find out till it was to late? They did the same with SARS, do you really want a third virus floating about in the future?

I don't trust the Chinese government but I trust Trump even less. His recent statement that he's seen evidence will be interpreted by many that he's seen proper intelligence but it's just as likely he's seen a YouTube video by some conspiracy loon. Ultimately though, it's just part of his strategy to create enemies and bogey men to blame and divert attention away from all his own fuck ups.

I thought the scientists (not the ones in China) had already said it's not possible due to the makeup of it (not that a mistake in it getting out couldn't be made)?

Trump isn't the only world leader who thinks this...

It's certainly something that the scientists need to be certain about and if it is measures need to be taken, ckearly.

However, I don't think right now is the time for that to be the focus of our best scientific minds or world leaders.

It won't change anything right now & the focus needs to be on containing,tracking,tracing & developing treatments & vaccines

Well he could be right!!

And if so,this could all happen again. How many weird viruses are sat in labs?

He could well be right. And I’d hazard a guess that there are lots of nasty viruses lurking in government labs in lots of countries. But what is making a fuss about it going to achieve?

The Chinese government are never, ever going to say ‘Sorry world, we dropped a clanger here. We’ve made this virus in our lab and accidentally let it loose. Here’s what our scientists discovered before they fucked up, so that your scientists can use it for their own research’. They’re never going to hand over any other nasty little germs they’ve got growing in Petri dishes. No other countries (including America) are going to hold their hands up and say ‘Well, as China has come clean, we’ll hold our hands up to having a nasty virus or two ourselves, but we’ll dispose of them now’.

All that is going to happen is that China is going to get really cheesed off with America. And that’s never going to be a positive thing.

This is the theory pushed by the person who a) told people to ingest disinfectant, and b) is desperate to blame the Chinese. I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

Whilst trump is bonkers, this is being widely discussed in the media for a while now and it’s no longer being knocked down as just a conspiracy theory. I think everyone knows this and you can’t not say something incase it upsets the Chinese.

I think if it came from a lab, then you would not be able to wash it off with soap.

I thought this from the start, too coincidental that it originated in Wuhan where they have the 32. million dollar US-funded Institute of Virology handling 1,400 deadly viruses, doesn’t take a genius to make the connection, don’t think it will ever be proved though as China cover up so much

I voted YANBU

BUT it is not impossible to prove the origins of the virus. It has already been studied by an international group of virologists and they have concluded it is NOT from a lab but has natural origins.

*Since the first reports of novel pneumonia (COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei province, China1,2, there has been considerable discussion on the origin of the causative virus, SARS-CoV-23 (also referred to as HCoV-19)4. Infections with SARS-CoV-2 are now widespread, and as of 11 March 2020, 121,564 cases have been confirmed in more than 110 countries, with 4,373 deaths5.

SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans; SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 can cause severe disease, whereas HKU1, NL63, OC43 and 229E are associated with mild symptoms6. Here we review what can be deduced about the origin of SARS-CoV-2 from comparative analysis of genomic data. We offer a perspective on the notable features of the SARS-CoV-2 genome and discuss scenarios by which they could have arisen. Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus.*

www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9

There are plenty of natural diseases stored in labs that are not men made. Small pox for example.

It's easily possible that they were studying the effects of covid-19 and someone was exposed to it. Given the high rate of transmission it would only take one person to be unaware they were infected.

It’s a handy smoke screen to hide behind isn’t it?

It is possible that someone working on bat coronavirus in a lab was accidentally infected and became patient zero. Lots of work is done on viruses in labs and sooner or later an accident will happen, if not in China then elsewhere.

Not sure what accusing the Chinese of lying will achieve (other than distracting the American public from Trumps own mistakes)? If it did escape from a lab then they'll either learn to improve lab security or they won't and Dum Trump flailing about won't change that one way or the other.

It is obvious where it originated.

It has already been studied by an international group of virologists and they have concluded it is NOT from a lab but has natural origins.

This. Who to believe - an international group of scientific experts or the man who thinks we could remove a virus from inside our bodies by injecting surface cleaner?

The Chines government haven't covered themselves in glory but all this is just Trump trying to deflect attention from his own uselessness.

Whilst trump is bonkers, this is being widely discussed in the media for a while now and it’s no longer being knocked down as just a conspiracy theory. I think everyone knows this and you can’t not say something incase it upsets the Chinese.

Except for the facts that:

scientists have sequenced the virus's genome and determined that there is no evidence that it was genetically engineered;

The office of the director of National Intelligence in the US released a statement completely contradicting Trump. To quote their press release "The Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified".
www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/item/2112-intelligence-community-statement-on-origins-of-covid-19

So when you say it's no longer being knocked down as just a conspiracy theory, exactly what brings you to that conclusion?

He is trying to sue China for something like 160 billion dollars. He is desperate to find evidence.

And how exactly is he going to sue them? In which court?

Just because a virus has natural origins doesnt mean it cant be isolated and studied in a lab, or then accidentally transmitted to the person working on it.

Not saying this is what's happened here, just saying that lab doesnt necessarily mean bioengineered or "unnatural ".

So when you say it's no longer being knocked down as just a conspiracy theory, exactly what brings you to that conclusion?

The version of this story I read is that there is a lab studying natural viruses it could have escaped from. So the fact that is not man-made and genetically modified is irrelevant, that wasn't being claimed anyway.

I don't see that it matters much if it did escape from a lab. No doubt the Chinese would be more careful in future, but that would be entirely up to them.

Given several other virus threats in recent decades didn't come from labs, tightening lab security isn't going to make much difference to safety in future.

I doubt it did come from a lab, I'm just relaying that it's not entirely a conspiracy theory that it could have.

He really is standing inside a glass house there!

Who holds live bubonic plague?

Maybe at some point in the future that would be a reasonable discussion for world leaders to have. But right now? It's just a distraction technique!