China was suspected of creating a state secret from research on the origin of the coronavirus. Journalists from Associated Press conducted their investigation.
They assure that a special commission under the Chinese government will check before publishing the study on the virus. Beijing is providing hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to scientists studying the origins of the coronavirus, according to the agency.
According to internal documents, on February 24, the country introduced new procedures for approving the publication in accordance with the “important instructions” of the President of China Xi Jinping . Other notices instructed staff not to share any data, samples or other information related to the coronavirus to third-party agencies or individuals, AP notes.
“Today, the caves, which were once explored by scientists, are under close supervision of the authorities,” the agency said. These are the habitats of bats, which are believed to be carriers of the virus. The journalists also noted that the PRC security agents tracked the AP group and did not allow them to visit the cave, where researchers in 2017 identified the species of bats responsible for SARS.
According to the article, the Chinese authorities are also guarding an abandoned mine where the closest genetic relative of COVID-19, the RaTG13 virus, was discovered in 2012.
An outbreak of COVID-19 pneumonia caused by a novel coronavirus was first recorded in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. On March 11, WHO announced that the situation could be characterized as a pandemic.