Three gain-of-function researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology fell ill with an “unknown illness” in 2019 prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, including a researcher who received $41 million in U.S. government grants.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on U.S. intelligence reports about the sick researchers in 2021.
Researchers Ben Hu, Yu Ping, and Yan Zhu were hospitalized with coronavirus symptoms in November 2019, the Intercept reported. Hu was a top deputy to Shi Zhengli, a virologist known for “her work extracting samples of viruses from bats in Chinese caves.” FOIA requests filed by the White Coat Waste Project found that Hu, listed as an investigator, received United States grants totaling $41 million for his research. Hu’s research primarily focused on “modifying coronaviruses so they could bind to human cells,” the Wall Street…
