Social media and foreign media are once again discussing documents related to the funding of bat coronavirus research involving Chinese virologist Ben Hu. The publications mention grants from the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as questions about the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.
WHAT IS KNOWN
According to the organisation White Coat Waste Project, which analyses government spending on scientific research, Ben Hu was listed as a researcher on several projects related to the study of bat coronaviruses.
Among these are the projects "Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence" and PREDICT-2, carried out with the involvement of the organisation EcoHealth Alliance. It is reported that the total funding for the mentioned programmes was around $44 million.
WHAT AMOUNTS ARE LISTED IN THE MATERIALS
According to the published documents, the project "Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence" includes NIAID grants for $3,586,760 and $3,086,735.
Additionally, the documents mention the PREDICT-2 programme, funded by USAID, with a total budget of $38 million. International research and laboratory sites, as well as collaboration with EcoHealth Alliance, are cited as the locations where the projects were carried out.
WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT BEN HU
Ben Hu is a leading Chinese virologist from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Several Western media outlets have put forward the hypothesis that Ben Hu may have been the first person infected with COVID-19 in the autumn of 2019. These claims are based on anonymous reports from US officials, published in 2023.
At the same time, Ben Hu himself denied this fact, stating he had no symptoms and that early antibody tests were negative.
WHY THE TOPIC AROUSES PUBLIC INTEREST
The publication of the documents has once again attracted attention because the research was related to bat coronaviruses and was conducted before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The materials presented confirm the fact of funding for scientific projects, but do not contain evidence that the mentioned grants led to the creation of SARS-CoV-2. The origin of the virus remains a subject of debate.
Funding international programmes for the study of potentially dangerous pathogens is a common practice in the field of biosafety and preparedness for possible pandemics. Examples include the PREDICT and CREID programmes, as well as international research related to MERS and Ebola viruses.
