> 2/ a modified virus "escaping" Wuhan's BSL4 lab Or just a natural one. The virus doesn't need to have been engineered/synthesized/mofidied for the Wuhan lab

> 2/ a modified virus "escaping" Wuhan's BSL4 lab Or just a natural one. The virus doesn't need to have been engineered/synthesized/mofidied for the Wuhan lab to accidentally/purposefully released it (for the record, if it did originate from the lab I would bet it was accidental). Don't forget that the Wuhan lab was also part of a US government funded program to help prevent future pandemics[0]. So the lab likely handled natural viruses. The program's funding was cut/stopped last year & an article about it was posted on HN (flagged & removed). I quoted + commented on the HN posting/article back then[1]. Here is the snippet I previously quoted: > Two months before the novel coronavirus is thought to have begun its deadly advance in Wuhan, China, the Trump administration ended a $200-million pandemic early-warning program aimed at training scientists in China and other countries to detect and respond to such a threat. > The project, launched ... in 2009, identified 1,200 different viruses that had the potential to erupt into pandemics, including more than 160 novel coronaviruses. The initiative, called PREDICT, also trained and supported staff in 60 foreign laboratories — including the Wuhan lab that identified SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19. > Field work ceased when the funding ran out in September The Wuhan lab was also first to identify & sequence SARS-CoV-2[2]. Coincidence or not, that part makes sense either way because it's a BSL4 lab & it's located in the same city as the first cases. [0] https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-04-02/coronavirus-trump-pandemic-program-viruses-detection https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-04-02/coronavirus... [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22766157 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22766157 [2] https://virological.org/t/novel-2019-coronavirus-genome/319 https://virological.org/t/novel-2019-coronavirus-genome/319