Allegation of cover-up

China: Corona origin to be clarified by science

Researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology

(Bild: EPA/SHEPHERD HOU)

The German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) believes it is likely that a laboratory accident in Wuhan, China, was the cause of the global coronavirus pandemic. The Chinese Foreign Office and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel have now commented on the allegations surrounding a possible cover-up. 

The Chinese Foreign Ministry rejects "any form of political maneuvering", said spokeswoman Mao Ning on Thursday. Scientific questions should also be assessed by scientists.

China: Leakage of the virus "highly unlikely"
She referred to experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) who had spoken to researchers in Wuhan. They had come to the conclusion that it was "highly unlikely" that the virus had leaked. The international community had previously also largely acknowledged this.

For her part, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) refuted the accusations of a cover-up of intelligence about the origin of the coronavirus. She "fundamentally rejects this", a spokeswoman for Merkel told the "Tagesspiegel" newspaper. 

BND raises serious accusations
According to information from the Süddeutsche Zeitung and Die Zeit, the German foreign intelligence service came to this conclusion back in 2020. The investigation was commissioned by the Chancellery, which is said to have kept the findings under lock and key. Merkel was German Chancellor at the time.

Merkel office: "Questions of fact to the Federal Chancellery"
The spokesperson went on to say that Merkel was unable to comment on the matter herself. Merkel's office referred "factual questions to the Federal Chancellery" because that is where the official documents from Merkel's time in office are located and not in her current office.

Corona in the lab? Angela Merkel rejects the accusation of a cover-up.

(Bild: Markus Schreiber)

German media reported that the question of the origin of the pathogen could not be clearly clarified at present. A study published at the end of September 2024 showed that the pathogen probably originated from wild bulls traded on the market in Wuhan. However, it is not possible to draw a clear conclusion: the samples were only taken from January 2020, but the first infections in humans occurred in November 2019.

Market hall in Wuhan (archive image)

(Bild: Hector Retamal)

Drosten considers natural origin likely
This study suggests a natural origin of the coronavirus. German virologist Christian Drosten from the Charité hospital in Berlin believes this is "still likely", as he said in an interview at the beginning of the year. However, the Chinese authorities have been able to provide proof of this. At the end of December, the WHO declared that it was still waiting for China's cooperation to clarify the origin of the pandemic. "We continue to request data and access from China so that we can understand the origins of Covid-19".

The second hypothesis on the origin is based on a laboratory accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where research is carried out on coronaviruses, among other things. The German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the US foreign intelligence agency CIA, for example, support this theory. "The CIA assesses with low confidence that, based on available reports, a research-related origin of the Covid-19 pandemic is more likely than a natural origin," the intelligence agency announced in January.

The virus was first registered in Wuhan. The US government must stop "slandering other countries and blaming them", said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.