The WIV possessed unpublished bat coronavirus sequences that it did not disclose
3 events · 2 assessments
Reassessed: still Supported
verdict confidence 0.80
Assessed Supported
verdict confidence 0.80
The evidence favours this claim. The Wuhan Institute of Virology built one of the world's largest collections of bat and other wildlife coronaviruses over years of sampling, and much of that material was never published in the scientific literature. Most prominently, WIV's central database of roughly 22,000 sample and sequence records was taken offline on 12 September 2019 and has not been publicly restored — a removal the institute itself acknowledges (attributing it to hacking attempts). Independent analysis has also shown WIV held sequences it disclosed only belatedly or partially, such as the eight additional SARS-related coronaviruses from the Mojiang mine and metadata around RaTG13. What remains genuinely disputed is not whether undisclosed sequences existed but their significance: WIV maintains it shared relevant data with international investigators, while critics argue the withheld holdings could bear directly on COVID-19's origins. Because the database itself remains inaccessible, its full contents cannot be independently verified; the fact of possession and non-disclosure, however, is well documented.
Claim entered the graph