WUHAN INSTITUTE OF VIROLOGY (WIV)

The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) has a secure level 4 laboratory from which coronaviruses cannot escape, insists Yuan Zhiming, director of Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, told Science and Technology Daily on Sunday, May 10. “We have adopted a series of measures to ensure no virus can leave our lab,” Yuan Zhiming said.

Yuan was also quoted in an article written by Alice Yan for the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on May 11, and added the lab has a strict management system in place, including stringent procedures on handling waste and infectious materials and all researchers who need to do experiments at the lab need to pass annual physical and psychological health evaluations, while those licensed to work in the level four lab need to secure approval before entering it.

“Staff have to follow strict safety procedures whenever they enter the lab and must guarantee that their physical condition is normal, including blood pressure and body temperature. They must also sign a registry form and inform a monitoring center whenever they enter and leave the lab,” Yan wrote.

The institute’s level 4 laboratory carries out research on the most dangerous pathogens, such as Ebola, West African Lassa virus and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever viruses and there has never been any case of any virus “accidentally leaking” from the lab as claimed by US President Donald Trump, who has shown a shred of evidence to support his claim. #coronavirusimpact #COVID19