World’s most dangerous biolabs studying diseases with NO CURE as Covid leak feared to have infected dozens in Taiwan
THESE are the locations of the 59 most high risk biolabs in the world as a new lab leak is feared to have infected dozens with Covid in Taiwan.
Experts from King's College London compiled the report earlier in the year titled "Mapping Maximum Biological Containment Labs Globally" in an effort to highlight the "significant risks" posed by the labs amid the pandemic.
The paper - and accompanying interactive map - shows the 59 biosecurity level four (BSL-4) locations, both in operation or planned, which deal with some of the most deadly pathogens.
It highlights 18 in Europe, 14 in North America, 13 in Asia, seven in Britain, four in Australia and three in Africa.
BSL-4 labs are designed to work with potentially devastating viruses for which there are no vaccine or cure.
Pathogens which have been studied in labs of this kind include Ebola, the Nipah and Lassa viruses, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever - all which have potential to be more fatal than Covid.
The locations are high security environments where scientists have to wear protective suits in pressurised chambers which they have to enter via airlocks.
Despite all these security efforts however, there is always the fear that something could escape and potentially cause devastation.
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These fears have been brought home as a feared new Covid outbreak is believed have been triggered by an escape from a lab in Taiwan.
Dozens of people are feared to have been infected after the researcher was bitten by a mouse while working at the BSL-3 facility in Taipei.
While not as high security as the BSL-4 labs compiled in the KCL paper, it is a chilling reminder of the danger posed by viruses held in labs.
And meanwhile, the theory continues to gain momentum that Covid may have first emerged by escaping a lab in Wuhan.
The KCL paper - penned by Dr Filippa Lentzos and Dr Gregory D. Koblentz - warns international standards are woefully inadequate to properly police the major threat posed by the labs.
"The risks of work with dangerous pathogens mean that extremely
high-levels of safety and security protection must be applied and that the work must be conducted responsibly", it reads.
There are no binding international standards for safe, secure, and responsible work on pathogens in maximum containment labs
Mapping Maximum Biological Containment Labs Globally
"This is especially important for work with pathogens that may have devastating consequences for local, regional, and global communities, if an exposure or accidental release were to occur."
It warns of the dangers of lab workers carrying a virus into the population or a containment breach spreading deadly diseases.
And it also warns pathogens could be stolen from these labs, viruses could be repurposed to actively cause harm, and the lab's very existence may destabilise as governments fear their rivals may be developing bioweapons.
More than three quarters of the world's BSL4 labs - some 46 - are also located in urban areas, meaning impacts of any leak could have devastating consequences.
The paper was published as fears grow Covid may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China - a BSL-4 lab - with US President Joe Biden ordering his intelligence officers to "redouble" their investigation.
China denies everything and has blasted the US for speculating on a lab leak - but what was once dubbed a "conspiracy theory" is moving from the fringe into the mainstream.
It is not suggested that Covid is manmade, but it has been speculated that gain of function research carried out at WIV may have made an existing coronavirus more likely to infect humans before it's escape.
Where are Britain's seven BSL-4 labs?
BRITAIN has seven BSL-4 labs in operation or upcoming according to report, more than a fifth of all the insitutions in Europe.
- Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down
- Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Porton Down
- High Containment Large Animal Facility, Pirbright Institute
- National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, Potters Bar
- Centre for Infections, London
- The Francis Crick Institute Containment, London
- PHE Harlow, Harlow
Dr Lentzos told The Sun Online: "The lab leak theory is entirely plausible.
"Safety lapses in the course of scientific research is a regular occurrence in labs all over the world, and we know there were several research teams in Wuhan working with coronaviruses.
"There is, as of yet, no concrete evidence for either natural spillover or a lab leak, but there is mounting circumstantial evidence for a lab leak, and the theory needs to be thoroughly and credibly investigated.
"The current debate highlights the need to put in place international standards for research in BSL-4 labs, as well as an international body to systematically register and oversee maximum containment facilities."
The KCL paper calls for an international structure to be put in place to "systematically register and oversee" the labs to avoid any further potential leaks.
"There is, however, currently no requirement to report these facilities internationally, and no international entity is mandated to collect such information and provide oversight at a global level," it warns.
"Moreover, there are no binding international standards for safe, secure, and responsible work on pathogens in maximum containment labs."
China has long been accused of covering up or distorting its role in the early days of the pandemic, with claims the Communist Party manipulated case and death figures while withholding information from WHO.
WHO did stage a much derided probe which all but dismissed the lab leak - and on the same day the organisation's chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for a new investigation.
There is currently no evidence to suggest the virus was intentionally released by China.
But former intelligence chiefs and diplomats have claimed the virus was leaked from the lab in the "cover up of the century" that is "worse than Watergate".
Both China and the lab have furiously denied any allegations.
But Beijing continues to refuse cooperate with a full-scale probe into the origins of the virus.
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Intel bosses said the evidence of a lab "accident" is clear to see - and there has been a calculated cover up "from day one".
The Sun Online previously revealed the Wuhan lab is believed to have received shipments of bat samples - potentially a key clue in the origins of Covid.