Former MI6 chief says West had been naive in its trust of China regarding Covid-19 origin
12141 Min Read
Evidence that a lab leak in Wuhan sparked the coronavirus pandemic has probably been destroyed by China, the former head of the British MI6 has said.
Sir Richard Dearlove, who headed up the secret intelligence service between 1999 and 2004, warned that it would be difficult to prove that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was working on ‘gain of function’ experiments to make a natural coronavirus more deadly to humans.
Speaking to Allison Pearson on the Telegraph’s Planet Normal podcast, , he warned that the West had been naive in its trust of China, which had infiltrated scientific institutions and journals in Britain and beyond.
Sir Richard said it was possible that scientists who wanted to speak out about the experiments had been ‘silenced.’
“We don’t know that’s what’s happened, but a lot of data has probably been destroyed or made to disappear so it’s going to be difficult to prove definitely the case for a gain-of-function chimera being the cause of the pandemic.
“This is why scientific analysis is now so important because although that can’t prove the case 100 per cent, the thorough biochemical analysis puts the weight of evidence to this being a man-made lab experiment, a natural virus that has been enhanced” he added.
Photo: A man wearing a mask for protection passes local Communist Party headquarters in Guangzhou, China. EPA-EFE/ALEX PLAVEVSKI
