Wuhan Institute of Virology

The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is a research laboratory in the Hubei province of China that is adminstered by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Most notably, WIV runs China's only biosafety level 4 (BLS-4) laboratory. Most notably, that BLS-4 WIV lab performed research on coronaviruses for years up through the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 pandemic, which was observed as an outbreak centering around the densely populated city of Wuhan.

The WIV broke ground in 1956, originally named the Wuhan Microbiology Laboratory. After suffering a series of name changes over the years, WIV stuck in 1978.

The Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the WIV is virologist and researcher of SARS-like coronaviruses, Shi Zhengli. Zhengli and her team

In April 2012, six miners became ill after entering a disused copper mine inhabited by bats in southwest China, and three died. Researchers from the WIV were called in to investigate. They discovered several new coronavirus samples in the mine.¹⁾

The WIV as at the center of some versions of genetic engineering and lab leak hypotheses of the origins of SARS-CoV-2. The first reported cases of COVID-19 were in nearby residents of Wuhan.

• Jan 27, 2022 - Chinese Scientists From Wuhan Discover “Potentially Deadly” New Strain Of Coronavirus²⁾
  • Preprint: Xiong et al³⁾
  • The NeoCoV strain
  • They fear it could make the jump to humans.
  • Uses ACE2 for entry.
  • Scientists seem to already know there is no cross-reactive immunity with SARS-CoV-2 or MERS-CoV.