Dr Fauci says there’s ‘NO evidence’ coronavirus was created in Wuhan laboratory
DR Anthony Fauci said on Monday there is "no scientific evidence" to point to coronavirus having been manufactured in a Chinese laboratory.
In an interview in , the top doc rubbished suggestions that the virus was created at a facility in Wuhan - insisting is naturally-occurring and has not been “deliberately manipulated.”
“If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and what's out there now, [the scientific evidence] is very, very strongly leaning toward this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated," Fauci said.
"Everything about the stepwise evolution over time strongly indicates that [this virus] evolved in nature and then jumped species."
Fauci's comments come as:
- The Senate convened for the first time since March in Washington DC
- US intelligence say the extent of the outbreak
- White House officials think COVID-19 deaths will
- Coronavirus before Congress
- California begins phased as some beaches reopen
During the interview, Fauci also rejected President Trump's hope that which has claimed the lives of nearly 70,000 Americans, would "miraculously" vanish.
Trump has repeatedly suggested the virus will during his daily coronavirus press briefings.
However, Fauci said: “I don't think there's a chance that this virus is just going to disappear.
"It's going to be around, and if given the opportunity, it will resurge.”
Trump has also backed claims that the and has described the outbreak as a " by Beijing, who the president accuses of a cover up.
However, the president has not suggested the virus was made in a Chinese lab -- putting his and Dr Fauci's opinions on the matter in line with one another.
A leaked spy dossier published over the weekend detailed how Chinese officials tried to and says the country silenced whistleblowers and destroyed evidence of the outbreak in .
The classified document, obtained by Australia's , came after Secretary of State coronavirus came from the Chinese virology laboratory.
But on Monday based on Western intelligence sources suggested there is doubt in the theory the virus may have escaped, accidentally or deliberately, from the lab.
A report, quoting 'Five Eyes' sources, said there is "nothing to indicate a leak from the lab could have caused the pandemic."
It adds "there is both scientific and intelligence agency agreement" that there is "no evidence" the disease was genetically engineered.
Despite China's reported interference in combatting the bug, Fauci said a vaccine may be available in less than a year due to the "impressive" results with a trial vaccine made by Moderna Therapeutics in .
The company began human trials with the mRNA vaccine in just 42 days, reports National Geographic - and Fauci believes the vaccine could be available as soon as January.
"We have a better chance of quickly getting, relatively speaking, a vaccine for the novel coronavirus than we did for HIV, because for some reason that’s still unknown the body does not make an adequate immune response to HIV," he told the publication.
Fauci also warned there would be a second wave of the virus in the fall and urged Americans to be cautious with the warmer weather as states prepare to reopen.
"We're going to be put to the test as we move toward the fall and winter of this year," he said.
MOST READ IN NEWS
"If we do it correctly, then we could be able to blunt and diminish the daily rate of infections in this country as we get into the summer," Fauci continued. "I can't guarantee it, but if we do things right, that likely will happen."
But he also said officials should prepare for a resurgence of the virus, adding: “Shame on us if we don't have enough tests by the time this so-called return might occur in the fall and winter."
The news comes after a leaked White House report said that daily US COVID deaths would likely double by June 1.
on Monday the administration is projecting a steady rise in the number of deaths over the next several weeks, surging to around 3,000 fatalities per day in less than a month.
The same day, an internal concluded that anti-China sentiment is at its highest since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak could tip relations with the US into confrontation.