The report also states that the increase in spending was not seen in traditionally high research spending months.
Several medical experts, however, said the Internet 2.0 report wasn’t enough information to draw such conclusions.
For one thing, PCR testing, which has been in broad use for several decades, has been growing in popularity as it has become a standard method to test for pathogens, according to one of the experts.
In addition, PCR equipment is widely used in laboratories to test for many other pathogens beside COVID-19, including in animals, and is commonly found in modern hospitals and labs.
China was also dealing with an outbreak of African swine fever across the country in 2019.
China’s Foreign Ministry disputed the findings.
A spokesperson said the findings fall into the same category as other dubious claims about the origins of the coronavirus, including a “so-called paper” that analysed traffic volumes near several hospitals in Wuhan and searched for the keywords “cough” and “diarrhoea” before concluding that the outbreak began in Wuhan as early as August 2019.
An Australian biochemist who has read the report and has requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to speak publicly on the matter, said more data was needed to explain the procurement numbers.
The biochemist, who has a strong background in PCR and research application and immunology, said the data spoke to a sudden, significant need for pathogen diagnostic equipment, but he said it only raised questions about what the equipment was being used to test.
David Robinson, Internet 2.0’s co-chief executive officer and the lead researcher on the paper, said in an interview that the timing of some o ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
