China Already Mapped COVID-19 Weeks Before Telling the World

Hi Global Recap readers,

Much of the pain and misery COVID-19 caused could have been alleviated if we were informed earlier.

Well, newly disclosed information reveals that Chinese scientists knew of the COVID-19 strain much earlier but it went under the radar.

Who did they submit it to? The US.

More on that later.

🌐 Around the world:

• 🇦🇷 Argentina’s anti-socialist speech praised.

• 🦠 Beware of “Disease X.”

• 🇪🇨 Ecuador prosecutor shot dead.

• 🚀 Pakistan strikes back at Iran.

• 🇨🇳 China already mapped COVID-19 weeks before telling the world.

Let’s get into today’s news.

🇦🇷 Argentina’s Anti-Socialist Speech

At the World Economic Forum, Argentina’s President Javier Milei slammed the Western elites for promoting collectivism and socialism.

He said that these ideologies are the root cause of poverty and endanger the values of freedom.

• Background: Milei is a self-labeled “anarcho-capitalist” who won the election in November based on his pledge to cut government spending.

• Reaction: Milei’s speech went viral on social media, where many conservatives praised him.

Even Elon Musk tweeted about it:

Click for more

🦠 Beware of “Disease X”

Also at the World Economic Forum, world leaders discussed not only economics but also the next pandemic-causing disease, called Disease X.

• Details: Don’t freak out yet. Disease X is a hypothetical virus that scientists believe could be 20 times deadlier than COVID-19, and we should prepare for it.

• Origin: Disease X would likely be a respiratory virus, and could emerge from animal species, such as bats, birds, or swine, and jump to humans.

Let’s pray this disease never surfaces.

We all spent enough time isolated and distanced.

Click for more

🇪🇨 Ecuador Prosecutor Shot Dead

A top Ecuadorian prosecutor investigating a violent attack on a TV station was shot dead in broad daylight.

César Suárez was ambushed by gunmen in Guayaquil, a city plagued by crime and drug trafficking.

• Cases: Suárez was in charge of probing organized transnational crime in Guayas province.

• Violence: Ecuador has seen a surge in murders, explosions, kidnappings, and prison riots in recent years. Recently, armed gang members even stormed a TV station during a live broadcast. But to learn about how this all started, click here.

• Response: President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency and a curfew to combat the criminal groups.

Click for more

🚀 Pakistan Strikes Back at Iran

Pakistan has launched a precision attack using missiles and drones targeting separatist Baloch militants in Iran. At least 9 are thought to have been killed.

• Provocation: The attack follows Iran’s strikes on Pakistani soil, which killed two children and wounded several others. Iran said it targeted Iranian “terrorists” on Pakistan’s territory, belonging to a separatist militant group called Jaish al-Adl.

• Retaliation: Pakistan recalled its ambassador from Iran and suspended all high-level visits, calling Iran’s action a "serious breach of Pakistan’s sovereignty."

• Implication: The border clash adds to the regional tensions in the Middle East, where Iran and its proxies are engaged in hostilities with Israel and its allies.

Click for more

China

China Already Mapped COVID-19 Weeks Before Telling the World

🔬 The Send. Chinese scientists had already identified and sequenced the COVID-19 virus by late December 2019, a full two weeks before China officially announced its existence to the world.

🏛️ The Congressional Probe. The documents revealing the new timeline were obtained by Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has been investigating the origins of COVID-19, among other issues. The committee argues that the new findings cast doubt on the accuracy of data provided by the Chinese Communist Party.

🕵️‍♀️ Beijing’s Delayed Disclosure. The delay in sharing this vital information has raised fresh questions about what China knew in the early stages of the pandemic.

• The virus’s structure was submitted to a US genetic database on December 28, 2019 by Chinese scientists. It was an eight-page genetic code of a virus that infected a 65-yearld-old Wuhan man.

• The database is called GenBank, and it is run by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

• Three days later, GenBank emailed the scientists, asking for more information. However, it went unanswered.

• This means the scientists knew of the strain before Dec. 28, since they had to map it.

• Meanwhile, China was still publicly attributing the Wuhan outbreak to an unidentified viral pneumonia “of unknown cause.”

Click here for the GenBank email

💾 The Uploader. Dr. Lili Ren of the Beijing-based Institute of Pathogen Biology is one of the Chinese researchers who uploaded the sequence to the database.

• Note: The sequence was submitted but never published.

• Unfortunately, she’s ignored emails asking for comments regarding the matter.

• She is listed as a collaborator on a US-funded project studying the transmission of coronaviruses from animals to humans.

• The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) funded a nonprofit called EcoHealth Alliance, which funded the coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Ren is also the sub-guarantee of EcoHealth Alliance.

🔎 Scrutinizing the Sequence. The Chinese authorities shared the sequence of the COVID virus, called SARS-CoV-2, with the World Health Organization (WHO) on Jan. 11, 2020, which was the first known publication of the sequence.

• This sequence was “nearly identical to the sequence that was submitted by Lili Ren,” according to Melanie Egorin, Assistant Secretary for Legislation at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

🌍 Why It Matters. Scientists believe that the two-week gap could have been instrumental in helping the global medical community understand how COVID-19 spread, develop plans, and start working on a vaccine. This period was critical as scientists worldwide were scrambling to comprehend the mysterious disease that would eventually claim millions of lives.

🤔 The Unresolved Debate. While this new information doesn’t clarify whether COVID-19 originated from an animal or a lab leak, it does highlight the incomplete understanding of the pandemic’s origin.

🇨🇳 China’s Stance. The Chinese Embassy maintains that their COVID response policies are science-based and effective.