White House, Senate agree on $2 trillion coronavirus rescue plan

Yahoo – AFP, Michael Mathes, March 25, 2020

The measure will put cash directly into the hands of Americans hard hit by the
crisis (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

Washington (AFP) - The White House and Senate have reached agreement on a $2 trillion stimulus package for the US economy and millions of Americans ravaged by the coronavirus crisis, top lawmakers said early Wednesday.

"At last, we have a deal," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, hailing the massive "wartime level of investment into our nation" reached after five days of arduous and tense negotiations.

"We have a bipartisan agreement on the largest rescue package in American history," top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said shortly after McConnell spoke.

"So many people are being put out of work through no fault of their own. They don't know what their future is going to be like, how are they going to pay the bills," Schumer added.

"Well, we come to their rescue."

The Senate and House of Representatives still need to pass the legislation before sending it to President Donald Trump for his signature.

McConnell said the Senate will vote on the measure later Wednesday.

The deal aims to buttress the teetering economy by giving roughly $2 trillion to health facilities, businesses and ordinary Americans buckling under the strain of the coronavirus pandemic.

It will put cash directly into the hands of Americans hard hit by the crisis, provide grants to small businesses and hundreds of billions of dollars in loans for larger corporations including airlines.

The pandemic has infected 55,000 and killed nearly 800 in the US (AFP Photo/

SETH HERALD)

It also proposes the injection of around $130 billion into what Schumer calls "a Marshall Plan for hospitals" and health care infrastructure, referring to the huge American aid program to rebuild Europe after World War II.

With infection numbers rising from coast to coast, hospitals have been in dire need of equipment like protective gear, intensive care beds and ventilators.

Asian equities soared Wednesday on the news, with Tokyo's Nikkei closing up eight percent and oil prices also climbing.

US stocks had already surged Tuesday on expectations of an agreement.

McConnell and Schumer negotiated the deal with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other White House officials after days of bitter partisan fighting over what to put into the final package.

Mnuchin had shuttled between the Capitol offices of the Senate's leaders as they and staffers hammered out the language of the bill.

The agreement followed multiple failed attempts to advance a Republican-led proposal, and pressure had soared to swiftly reach a compromise.

President Donald Trump called for an immediate resolution to the stalemate.

"Congress must approve the deal, without all of the nonsense, today," he said Tuesday on Twitter.

"The longer it takes, the harder it will be to start up our economy. Our workers will be hurt!"

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hailed the massive 'wartime level of 

investment into our nation' (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB)

'Stop negotiating'

Democrats rejected the original package, arguing that it put corporations ahead of workers, including health professionals on the front lines of the battle against a pandemic that has infected 55,000 and killed nearly 800 in the US alone.

As the hours ticked away Tuesday, several lawmakers voiced their anxiety.

"Pass the damn bill. Stop negotiating. Enough is enough," a visibly angry Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on the floor, after accusing Democrats of "nickeling and diming at a time people are dying."

Any relief package that passes the Senate will need to clear the Democratic-led House too before going to Trump.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a more generous, roughly $2.5 trillion counterproposal that included ambitious elements like guaranteed paid and family medical leave, student loan forgiveness and oversight of the $500 billion earmarked for corporations.

But she signaled the House may simply take up the Senate bill and try to pass it.

"Much of what we have in our bill is reflected in this supposed agreement," Pelosi said.

According to Schumer, the compromise legislation includes an oversight mechanism for the company loans, and will guarantee that laid-off workers "on average, will receive their full pay for four months."

Pelosi suggested the measure might even pass the House by unanimous consent.

But getting 435 lawmakers to swallow a gargantuan rescue package without debate could be an uphill proposition in a sharply divided chamber.

Congressman Justin Amash, a former Republican who left the party after feuding with Trump, slammed the agreement, tweeting that it gave "far too little for those who need the most help, while providing hundreds of billions in corporate welfare."

IMF, World Bank call for suspending debt payments by poorest nations

Yahoo – AFP, March 25, 2020

The World Bank's International Development Association fights poverty in some
of the world's poorest countries, including Central African Republic (AFP Photo/
CAMILLE LAFFONT)

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank on Wednesday called for governments to put a hold on debt payments from the world's poorest nations so they can battle the coronavirus pandemic.

"The World Bank Group and the IMF believe it is imperative at this moment to provide a global sense of relief for developing countries as well as a strong signal to financial markets," the Washington-based development lenders said in a joint statement.

The move aims to help countries that are home to two-thirds of the world's population living in extreme poverty -- largely in sub-Saharan Africa -- and qualify for the most generous, low-cost loans from the International Development Association (IDA) financed by wealthier nations.

"The coronavirus outbreak is likely to have severe economic and social consequences for IDA countries" which will face "immediate liquidity needs to tackle challenges posed by the coronavirus outbreak," the organization said.

The IMF and World Bank called on the Group of 20 nations to support the initiative for "all official bilateral creditors to suspend debt payments from IDA countries that request forbearance."

In addition, the institutions called for an analysis of the financing needs these countries will face, and whether their total debt load is sustainable.

Part of the World Bank, the IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world's 76 poorest countries, providing zero or low interest loans spread over 30 years or more, and grants to some distressed nations.

In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019, IDA commitments totaled $22 billion, of which 36 percent was provided on grant terms, according to the World Bank.

IT IS NOW TIME FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS TO BE THE WAY OF LIFE

The Federation of Light channeled by Blossom Goodchild – 21 March 2020

Blossom Goodchild

Blossom: Hello there! I have returned from my amazing week in Hawaii, in which you Graced us with your presence. Again … Thank you! I am now in isolation for a fortnight and naturally, many are wanting to know what you have to say about the current situation as it stands, on our Planet at this time. Thank you.

Federation of Light: Welcome Blossom and All that are experiencing the most amazing, exciting times that you will have ever encountered in your existence throughout many life times.

We ask that you Rejoice. For that which we have talked with you about … is finally here. For so long, with respect, you have asked for this, and now it is here … one is wondering how on Earth to get through it. 

Yet, Each One … Each One of you KNOWS how … for you have prepared your Being … your Energies for this, throughout all this time that you had to wait.

To be honest, I felt you may not have anything new to say because you have been preparing us for so long. I guess, not one assumed that it would ‘play out’ in this fashion.

And not one assumed that they would feel the way they do about it.

Do you recall how we said you would have to ‘Hold on to your hats’ and remain in your Light? How you would have to ‘gently’ allow your knowledge to seep through to those that felt lost and afraid? How the media would fill your minds with untruths to keep you in a place of fear?

Dearest souls … are you reading between the ‘headlines’? Are you picking up on the fact that this virus that is supposedly sweeping through your countries is a disguise for all that is taking place on a completely different level, so that those who are now being ‘uncovered’  are hiding under the charade in order for mass panic of a different discovery, not to take place?

So, a big question to ask I know, yet … who concocted this virus … The goodies or the baddies?

We would say the baddies. Yet, due to Divine planning it is doing that which it was designed to do in order for your world to make its transition. For as you know, Earth cannot possibly rise in the state that it was/is in.

Therefore, we would not say ‘their plan’ has backfired … we would say from the good guys point of view, it is ‘playing itself out’ perfectly.

Some would obviously argue due to the pandemonium and deaths, and the absolute downfall that I feel will bring our world to a standstill.

From our position there is no argument to be had. We are not of the arguing Vibration. We simply state what is.

We have told you that your world will become Topsy Turvy, yet far more so than now.

In order for change to take place … many things must come to a halt as opposed to a ‘ticking over’.

Much disruption must be endured by everyone on many, many levels, due to the need and necessary adjustments to take their place in this Game.

Yes. It will get much more serious. Yet, the ‘illness’ will subside, yet, not be forgotten in the ‘Once upon a time’ story.

It is an ingenious plan. It could not be otherwise.

Those whose lives have been taken to another Vibration had agreed for this to happen. There are no mistakes. Just as the many thousands of lives that are taken daily through other means. No mistake. An agreement of knowing their ‘time’ upon your Planet has served them and they now shall have other opportunities elsewhere.

So many are in fear though, not just of catching the virus, yet, their business and jobs … savings, EVERYTHING is …

Topsy Turvy!

Our words of advice to those who ‘know’ … those who ‘knew’ … is to remain in your Light at all times.

The strength of that Light shall ripple out and find those who are in most need. Those that shall benefit from it greatly/most.

No one shall starve because there is food in abundance and as you are already aware, there is an Awakening taking place in so many, as they offer kindnesses that they would not ‘normally’ have considered.

And finances?

WILL CHANGE.

What one must carefully consider, is that in order for this Divine transformation to shine its Light, it cannot possibly continue in the way that it has been functioning. For within that functioning is so much corruption and greed and misleading information.

In order for ‘fairness’ and ‘equal rights’ financially and otherwise to ‘resume’ … the dominoes have to fall.

THIS IS WHY YOU ARE HERE … REMEMBER?

YOU … THE STRONGEST OF THE STRONG.

When you say ‘resume’ … is that the right word?

Indeed. For your Planet did not begin in this way.

IT IS NOW TIME FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS TO BE THE WAY OF LIFE.

This of course, as we have said, will not and cannot take place over night.

Many of you are aware of many who are suspicious, although they have no knowledge of the underlying cause. You see, already the Light is shining through.

Yet, Dearest Souls … take into account the fear that is spreading because of the media. Take into account also, that things have to get a lot more ‘delicate’ in order for changes.

KEEP YOUR SPIRIT HIGH.

For those that cannot ‘get through’ to the fearful … then send your Light through the ethers. To One … to All.

Send your Light. Let it be a constant stream, a flow of Goodness and Hope and Strength.

A great thing is the humour! Many ‘Light players’ are doing a great job in that department.

Because that is ‘their’ assignment. To Lighten up the dark.

LAUGHTER IS THE GREATEST HEALER OF ALL.

So, continue to find Laughter daily, as often as possible.

That which is to come is far more ‘Threatening’ than this that is taking place now.

Sounds ominous!

Yet … Truthful.

Any inkling of a hint of the tiniest guidance on that ‘threatening’ behaviour that is to come?

No.

I knew you were to say that. Yet, if you don’t ask you don’t get. Mmm! I asked and didn’t get.

Let us state Blossom … that when a seed is planted, depending on how it is nurtured and watered, there is no knowing of how that seed will grow. The length of time, the direction in which the flowers will bloom, the number of petals on each flower or indeed, how many flowers.

Therefore, would we say … the seed has been planted. It has sprouted … now, as it is watered, we will see which direction it shall take.

So, are you saying, depending on how WE water it, it will take a different course?

We are saying that it is being watered continually … Your job is to remove the thorns.

THERE IS TO BE NO STOPPING OF THE GROWTH OF THIS DIVINE PLAN.

THIS IS A TRUTH.

IT CANNOT AND WILL NOT FAIL.

What we are saying, is that it shall offer many possibilities as to which way the wind blows.

We are not predictors … no – one is. For it is the thoughts of the masses that bring about the change.

THIS IS TAKING PLACE NOW … BECAUSE IT HAS TOO.

Because there is enough Light anchored to ‘see it through’ and to ‘see through it’.

FOCUS AND PROJECT ON THE WORLD THAT IS TO COME.

IT IS SO EXCITING. IT IS IMMINENT.

With respect … I imagine your ‘imminent’ is like your ‘soon’. So, best we just go with the flow.

Certainly.

Courage and strength are Being sent to you All as everything falls into place.

Just to go back a bit … you say the virus will die out?

Yes. Without question.

Will the fear die out?

Through Light, yes, eventually.

Yet … THIS IS YOUR TASK. YOU KNOW THIS.

THAT YOU ARE HERE TO BE YOUR LIGHT.

GENTLY EXPLAIN TO SOULS OF THE BEST MEDICINE EVER …

TO FEEL IN THEIR HEART …

I AM THE LIGHT. I AM THE LOVE. I AM.

So many more will ‘try it’ because they don’t know what else to do … where else to turn.

So many souls, as they do so, will find their hearts Vibrating on a different level. They will notice the medicine working. The fear will leave them and a new strength will enter in.

Soul’s Being’s will open up to that new understanding. For eventually, it will be the only way through.

The Light within each one will be the ‘way to get through this’. Even to those who you may consider the most unlikely candidates will surprise you and themselves.

Remember how we have said that throughout all this turmoil as you live in ‘Topsy Turvy’ land, there will be given to you ‘Joys of Light’ that will uplift and strengthen?

HOPE WILL COME.

Yet, many moons ago we said that we prefer to use the word ‘Know’ instead of Hope.

SO, DEAREST SOULS … KNOW THAT THE CHANGE IS HAPPENING AND WITHIN/AMONGST ALL THE UPHEAVAL AND DEVASTATION AND ‘GRINDING TO A HALT’ THERE IS THE BIGGEST, BRIGHTEST LIGHT OF LOVE AND PEACE THAT IS TO COME AND FILL YOUR HEARTS WITH THE REMEMBERANCE OF THAT WHICH YOU ARE.

And … when THIS occurs … that which you are experiencing now and are to experience in that future now … will give understanding as to why this ‘experience’ of the walls tumbling down HAD to take its place in the Grand Scheme of things.

REMEMBER … FEEL … KNOW … that there are multitudes of Light Beings surrounding your Planet at this time. Remaining in strength as they ‘play their part’ in this MIGHTY, MIRACULOUS Transformation.

IT IS NOW.

ALL THAT YOU HAVE WAITED FOR … ALL THE IMPATIENCE AND TIREDNESS AND LOSING OF HOPE/KNOWING ABOUT THE ‘WHY’ OF YOU BEING HERE … AND THE ‘WHEN’ OF SEEING IT THROUGH … IS HAPPENNING NOW.

Dearest Ones … HANG ON TO YOUR HATS … PUT FLOWERS IN THEIR BRIM. Tie them tightly under your chins in the ABSOLUTE KNOWING that the gates have opened and it is time to walk through into the fields of a new Vibrational Earth.

Yet, first we have to remove the cowpats! Thank you so much … for BEING THE BEINGS that you are.

As you, indeed … the ground crew … who were especially chosen for this assignment … continue on Walking Boldly into the Light and Love that you are and KNOW YOURSELVES TO BE.

 In Gratitude, In Loving service. I AM.

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US and China trade barbs over coronavirus

Yahoo – AFP, Sebastien Ricci with Shaun Tandon in Washington, March 17, 2020

US President Donald Trump has defended tweets in which he called COVID-19
the "Chinese Virus" (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

Beijing (AFP) - US President Donald Trump doubled down Tuesday on calling the coronavirus spreading rapidly across the world the "Chinese Virus," despite protests from Beijing.

"It did come from China, so I think it's very accurate," Trump told a news conference, defending tweets in which he used the label for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump indicated that another motive was payback for what he said was China's disinformation campaign blaming the US military for the virus.

"China was putting out information which was false," he said.

"I didn't appreciate the fact that China was saying that our military gave it to them. Our military did not give it to anybody."

The two countries have sparred over the origin of the virus for days, with a Chinese official promoting conspiracy theories claiming it was brought to China by the US army and Beijing accusing American officials of stigmatizing an entire nation.

In his original tweet on Monday, Trump described US airlines and other industries being "particularly affected by the Chinese Virus."

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chinese politburo member Yang Jiechi 

shake hands following a press conference in Washington in November 2018 (AFP 

Photo/MANDEL NGAN)

Earlier Tuesday, he tweeted that some US states were "being hit hard by the Chinese Virus."

Trump's allies had previously referred to the pandemic as the "Chinese coronavirus", but Beijing said Tuesday it was "strongly indignant" over the phrase, which it called "a kind of stigmatization".

The United States should "immediately stop its unjustified accusations against China," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters.

A commentary by the official Xinhua news agency said using "racist and xenophobic names to cast blame for the outbreak on other countries can only reveal politicians' irresponsibility and incompetence which will intensify virus fears."

The war of words reignited diplomatic tensions between the two countries, which have tussled over trade and other disputes since Trump took office.

Trump's comments were also criticized inside the United States, with warnings it could incite a backlash against the Asian-American community.

"Our Asian-American communities -- people YOU serve -- are already suffering. They don't need you fueling more bigotry," tweeted New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose state is one of the hardest-hit by the virus in the country.

People wearing face masks walk through a rapeseed farm used to produce canola
oil in China's central Jiangxi province that borders Hubei province, the epicenter of
the country's COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

The World Health Organization said more cases and deaths had been reported in the rest of the world than in China.

The new coronavirus was first detected late last year, with China's own health officials initially saying its source was a live animal market in the central city of Wuhan, whose government had initially tried to cover up the outbreak.

But China has sought to distance itself from the virus, saying the origin is still unknown, while seeking global goodwill by offering aid to countries facing serious outbreaks.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a phone call he initiated with top Chinese official Yang Jiechi, voiced anger that Beijing has used official channels "to shift blame for COVID-19 to the United States", the State Department said.

Pompeo "stressed that this is not the time to spread disinformation and outlandish rumors, but rather a time for all nations to come together to fight this common threat", the department added.

The State Department on Friday summoned the Chinese ambassador, Cui Tiankai, to denounce Beijing's promotion of a conspiracy theory that had gained wide attention on social media.

A sign posted on a Sanrio store in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles announces 

its temporary closure as the coronavirus pandemic brings much of the world to a

standstill (AFP Photo/Frederic J. BROWN)

Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian suggested on Twitter last week that "patient zero" in the global pandemic may have come from the United States.

"It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation," tweeted Zhao, who is known for his provocative statements on social media.

'Stern warning' to US

Pompeo himself has sought to link China to the global pandemic, repeatedly referring to the "Wuhan virus" despite advice from health professionals that such geographic labels can be stigmatizing.

Yang issued a "stern warning to the United States that any scheme to smear China will be doomed to fail", Xinhua said in its summary of the call with Pompeo.

The key Chinese foreign policy leader "noted that some US politicians have frequently slandered China and its anti-epidemic efforts and stigmatized the country, which has enraged the Chinese people", Xinhua said.

Yang called on the US side to "correct its wrongful behavior".

Trump is under fire over his handling of the pandemic, and his backers have sought to cast the coronavirus as a disease brought by foreigners.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton, a Trump ally, has spoken of the "Chinese coronavirus" and in a recent statement vowed, "we will hold accountable those who inflicted it on the world".

While COVID-19 has largely come under control in China, it has killed more than 7,000 people around the world and severely disrupted daily life in Western countries.

Related Articles:

Theory that Coronavirus Escaped from a Lab Lacks Evidence

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G7 pledge to 'do whatever it takes' to safeguard economy

Yahoo – AFP, March 16, 2020

G7 leaders, pictured in 2017, say their finance ministers will talk to each other weekly
as the coronavirus ravages the global economy (AFP Photo/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)

Washington (AFP) - Leaders of the G7 industrial powerhouses pledged Monday to join forces to halt economic freefall in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which they called "a human tragedy."

As the outbreak caused more countries to shut down and brought the global economy to a screeching halt, the leaders stressed the need to join forces and move quickly to address the damage.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is a human tragedy and a global health crisis, which also poses major risks for the world economy," a joint statement from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States said.

"We resolve to coordinate measures and do whatever it takes, using all policy tools, to achieve strong growth in the G7 economies and to safeguard against downside risks," the leaders said in a statement following an emergency videoconference.

The measures aim to "support immediately and as much as necessary the workers, companies and sectors most affected," the statement said.

The G7 likewise said it would work together on "border management" following the drastic curtailment of movement across borders in an effort to slow the spread of the illness.

With market selloffs triggered by mass quarantines and travel restrictions, governments in the world's wealthiest countries are under pressure to show they can control the situation.

The G7 leaders instructed their finance ministers to consult weekly to implement policy measures and "develop further timely and effective actions."

Health ministers will likewise talk weekly to try to coordinate information to the public and medical know-how and equipment.

The G7 leaders noted the disruption to supply chains due to transportation shutdowns, as well as the harm to families.

They called on global institutions like the IMF to "swiftly" deploy financial assistance to countries that need it.

"We are committed to working together with resolve to implement these measures to respond to this global emergency," they said.

And they said they are "determined not only to restore the level of growth anticipated before the COVID-19 pandemic but also to build the foundation for stronger future growth."

In Washington, the White House called the videoconference "historic" and said the G7 leaders worked to "accelerate the national health and economic responses to the coronavirus pandemic in order to save lives and restore economic growth."

Spanish king distances himself from scandal-hit father

Yahoo – AFP, March 15, 2020

Juan Carlos handed over power to his son, Felipe in 2014 (AFP Photo/Juanjo Martín)

Madrid (AFP) - King Felipe VI of Spain moved Sunday to distance himself from his scandal-hit father, stripping him of his palace allowance and renouncing what he was due to inherit from him.

A statement from the palace announced that he had stripped the former king Juan Carlos, of his allowance and was himself renouncing what he was due to inherit from him.

The announcement came after media reports that Juan Carlos had received 100 million dollars (90 million euros) from Saudi Arabia via an offshore account -- and that King Felipe himself was also a beneficiary.

The money was lodged in a Swiss bank account in the name of a Panamanian foundation.

In the palace statement, the reigning king said that in April he had made it clear to a notary that he would accept no money from the foundation in question.

He also that he had absolutely no knowledge of having been named as a beneficiary to another foundation, which according to press reports paid millions of euros towards his father's flights in private jets.

On Tuesday, the Spanish parliament decided against launching an investigation into suspected money laundering by the former king Juan Carlos.

Reported Saudi payments to ex-king

Spain's hard-left Podemos party had called for it after reports earlier this month that in 2008 Juan Carlos received $100 million from Saudi king Abdallah via the Swiss account of an entity listed in Panama.

The Swiss daily Tribune de Geneve added that in 2012, $65 million of that sum was given by the king to his former mistress, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.

Then a report in Britain's Daily Telegraph said that 52-year-old King Felipe was also a beneficiary of the fund, which it said had been set up when Juan Carlos was still on the throne.

Juan Carlos, now 82, came to the throne after the death of the military dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 and is widely respected for having favoured a transition to democracy.

But he lost his immunity from prosecution after handing power to his son, Felipe, in June 2014 following a 39-year reign.

He resigned from public life last year after a series of scandals about his private life.

In 2012, he outraged Spaniards by going elephant hunting in Botswana at the height of the country's recession.

Spanish reports say Juan Carlos has until now received an annual allowance from the state of more than 194,000 euros.

Theory that Coronavirus Escaped from a Lab Lacks Evidence

The pathogen appears to have come from wild animals, virologists say, and there are no signs of genetic manipulation in the SARS-CoV-2 genome.

The Scientist, Emily Makowski, Mar 5, 2020

Since the early days of the COVID-19 epidemic, theories have circulated about the origin of the novel coronavirus causing the disease, SARS-CoV-2. One prominent rumor is that it first escaped from a lab in Wuhan studying bat coronaviruses and then spread to the public. This theory has also evolved into claims that the virus was genetically engineered to be a bioweapon. But scientists say that while there’s not enough information to pinpoint where the virus came from, there is no evidence that it was created in a lab.

The lab-escape theory had been circulating on social media and various blogs for weeks, but gained considerable visibility in a New York Post article in late February. In it, Steven Mosher, a social scientist and the president of the Population Research Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, summarizes why he believes SARS-CoV-2 may have been accidentally spread by China’s National Biosafety Laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where researchers have studied bat coronaviruses.

In the article, Mosher describes several lines of reasoning, namely, that the lab is less than 10 miles away from the seafood market where a cluster of COVID-19 cases was first discovered, and that after the 2003 SARS outbreak, the SARS-CoV virus escaped from virology labs multiple times in China. He also describes how Chinese virologist and bioweapons expert Major General Chen Wei went to the Wuhan Institute of Virology with military scientists in January to study thenew virus, which Mosher sees as a form of damage control.

“The circumstantial evidence surrounding it is pretty compelling. . . . The idea that the epicenter of this epidemic would be just a few miles from the Institute of Virology in Wuhan, which is where we know that dangerous pathogens are being kept and looked at as potential bioweapons, I think the odds against that are just astronomical,” Mosher tells The Scientist.

Dimitrios Paraskevis, an epidemiologist at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece, tells The Scientist that while it’s not possible to rule out the idea of lab escape, he believes that it is unlikely. “Any person who works in a lab must follow very strict safety regulations. It sounds to me very extraordinary that something happened and nobody took care about such an accident,” he says. The World Health Organization updated SARS surveillance guidelines in 2004 after the lab-based outbreaks, urging labs to follow proper biosafety procedures, and China replaced the director of its Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

One problem leading to a lot of apprehension and speculation about the new coronavirus is that scientists “don’t know what the actual source of the virus was,” Anthony Fehr, a coronavirus researcher at the University of Kansas, tells The Scientist. Additionally, researchers don’t know if SARS-CoV-2 immediately started to spread in humans after a single transmission from an animal, or if it took multiple zoonotic events between an infected animal population and humans.

Despite the question mark around the exact source of the disease, it does appear to have originally come from wildlife, according to a team of international public health scientists who wrote a statement published in The Lancet. An analysis of SARS-CoV-2 by scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology suggests that the virus’s genome is 96 percent similar to a coronavirus found in bats.

Mosher agrees that animals were the likely origin. “That doesn’t mean [the virus] wasn’t collected, brought to the lab, and was being tested on in various ways, and escaped from the lab,” he says. Mosher also does not claim that China genetically engineered the virus. “I’m not saying this has been genetically engineered to be a bioweapon that’s escaped from the lab. . . . I’m just saying that [China is] collecting dangerous pathogens, [and] they have a history of letting them escape from the lab,” he says.

Transmission from an animal, with no lab experiment or genetic manipulation involved, fits best with what scientists know about how other coronaviruses have made the jump to humans. In the past, these viruses have spread through wild bats that infect another type of animal—an intermediate host—that then spreads it to humans. SARS-CoV, for example, was transmitted from bats to civets to humans, while camels were an intermediate host in MERS, according to Quanta. The civet version of SARS-CoV was 99.8 percent similar to the one found in humans—much more closely related than the bat and human varieties of SARS-CoV-2—so researchers believe the new coronavirus also infected another type of animal on its way from bats to humans. But they have not found a candidate so far, according to Nature.

This ability to move in between different animal hosts is a characteristic feature of coronaviruses, according to Paul McCray, a pulmonologist at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine whose lab studies coronaviruses. “It’s exactly what we’ve learned in studies of SARS in 2002 and 2003, and MERS in 2012. . . . So the concept that this is happening again should come as no surprise,” he says. “For people that work with these viruses, this is completely unsurprising. We don’t need to come up with farfetched theories when the genome sequences and the characteristics of these viruses support what we’re seeing.”

No signs of engineering in SARS-CoV-2 genome

In addition to the claim that a naturally evolved virus escaped from a lab by mistake, some conspiracy theories have posited that SARS-CoV-2 was genetically engineered. In fact, researchers throughout the world, including in the US and China, have conducted research involving the creation of experimentally engineered hybrid coronaviruses. But there is no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 was genetically engineered, says Paraskevis, whose genomic analysis of the new virus was reported as a preprint in January.

RNA viruses, which include coronaviruses, “accumulate mutations at a rate one million times faster than human DNA [does]. . . . It gives them the ability to survive against an immune response,” Paraskevis says. While the new coronavirus does have some genetic differences to other known viruses due to mutations, “there’s no evidence that this is the result of a human experiment,” he says, adding that if the virus were engineered, scientists would expect to see additional genetic material in its genome. For example, an early bioRxiv preprint on SARS-CoV-2 found HIV-like genetic sequences, but online commenters pointed out that “the findings were at most a coincidence” and that research has since been retracted, reports STAT.

As there are still many unknowns about SARS-CoV-2, researchers worldwide are trying to uncover as much as they can about the virus. Chinese researchers “released the genomic sequence incredibly rapidly online. . . . They were very public in sharing the most important first piece of information” about it, McCray tells The Scientist. “The fact that scientists all over the world had access to that genomic sequence” made a lot of early research possible, he says.

Emily Makowski is a freelance writer based in Boston. Find her on Twitter @EmilyRMakowski.

"China is seeking to deflect criticism for its role in starting a global pandemic and not telling the world" by spreading "dangerous and ridiculous" conspiracy theories, a US State Department official said https://t.co/wBxj3p3Sjl pic.twitter.com/myx3OcoixS

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 13, 2020

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