COVID-19 origin probe: US intelligence agencies access genetic data from Wuhan lab

Medical workers in protective suits test nucleic acid samples inside a Huo-Yan (Fire Eye) laboratory of BGI, following new cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. (Representative image: Reuters)

The US intelligence agencies have accessed massive genetic data from China's Wuhan lab and are scouring them to find the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, reported CNN citing sources.

According to the report, the accessed data contains genetic blueprint information from virus samples studied at Wuhan lab, which several American officials still believe may have been the source of the COVID-19 outbreak, the media report said.

The novel coronavirus first emerged in China’s Wuhan in 2019.

The report further said it still remains unclear how or when the US intelligence agency gained access to the information. However, reportedly, the machines involved in the creation and processing of such genetic data from viruses are connected to external cloud-based servers leaving the possibility of being hacked.

To translate the raw data into usable information, the officials are facing numerous challenges, including harnessing enough computing power to process it all, said the report. They are also facing manpower issue as they need Mandarin speaking government scientists skilled enough to interpret complex genetic sequencing data and who have the proper security, it said.

"Obviously there are scientists who are (security) cleared. But Mandarin-speaking ones who are cleared? That's a very small pool. And not just any scientists, but ones who specialize in bio? So you can see how this quickly becomes difficult," a source familiar with the intelligence was quoted as saying.

The officials hope that this information will disclose how the virus jumped from animals to humans. Knowing this is essential to ultimately determining whether COVID-19 leaked from the lab or was transmitted to humans from animals in the wild, said the report citing multiple sources.

Earlier, multiple experts and media reports have even warned that the novel coronavirus could have been leaked from China's Wuhan lab. However, China’s Communist regime has been strongly denying the reports for a long time.

Meanwhile, Wuhan city, which is currently experiencing a resurgence of infections, has tested 11.23 million of its over 12 million people, local authorities said on August 7.

Wuhan reported six new locally-transmitted confirmed cases and 15 asymptomatic cases. By the end of August 6, Hubei province, Wuhan's capital, reported 47 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 31 locally-transmitted cases. There were also 64 asymptomatic cases under medical observation, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.