Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Early Covid Gene Samples Were Deleted From Database, Scientist Says
The New York Times: Scientist Finds Early Coronavirus Sequences That Had Been Mysteriously Deleted
About a year ago, genetic sequences from more than 200 virus samples from early cases of Covid-19 in Wuhan disappeared from an online scientific database. Now, by rooting through files stored on Google Cloud, a researcher in Seattle reports that he has recovered 13 of those original sequences — intriguing new information for discerning when and how the virus may have spilled over from a bat or another animal into humans. The new analysis, released on Tuesday, bolsters earlier suggestions that a variety of coronaviruses may have been circulating in Wuhan before the initial outbreaks linked to animal and seafood markets in December 2019. (Zimmer, 6/23)
The Wall Street Journal: Chinese Covid-19 Gene Data That Could Have Aided Pandemic Research Removed From NIH Database
Chinese researchers directed the U.S. National Institutes of Health to delete gene sequences of early Covid-19 cases from a key scientific database, raising concerns that scientists studying the origin of the pandemic may lack access to key pieces of information. The NIH confirmed that it deleted the sequences after receiving a request from a Chinese researcher who had submitted them three months earlier. (Marcus, McKay and Hinshaw, 6/23)
CNN: Coronavirus Samples From China: Scientist Jesse Bloom Says Early Samples Were Deleted From NIH Database
Scientists investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic might be working with the wrong samples, because some early samples of the virus submitted by a Chinese researcher were deleted from a shared database, an expert in the evolution of viruses says. Jesse Bloom, a researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, said he found genetic sequences taken from early coronavirus cases in China that were deleted from a US National Institutes of Health database. Examination shows some of the early cases in the Chinese city of Wuhan are different, genetically, from the variants that eventually spread to cause the pandemic. (Fox, 6/23)
Roll Call: 3 Questions Experts Say Need To Be Asked About Pandemic’s Origin
Biosecurity experts are pushing Congress to investigate a theory that the virus that causes COVID-19 escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China, saying important information could be uncovered even without the help of Chinese authorities. “Many threads of investigation are available in the U.S. and would be accessible to a congressional inquiry with subpoena power,” said Rutgers University molecular biologist Richard Ebright, who believes the pandemic resulted from a lab accident. (Kopp, 6/23)
