US suspended Wuhan Institute funding

The United States has suspended the funding of the virology institute in the Chinese city of Wuhan. According to the US, the safety regulations at the facility have not been adhered to, and the institute has not provided the requested documentation regarding this matter.

The US Department of Health and Human Services also intends to prohibit the Chinese research institution from participating in future government contracts.

According to a statement from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the medical research agency that is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Chinese institute has not received funding since July 2020.

This decision comes after a months-long evaluation, which, according to the US Department, revealed that the Chinese institute “did not comply with federal regulations,” as stated in a department memo. “The action was taken due to the Chinese institute’s failure to provide documentation requested by the NIH regarding concerns that it violated NIH’s safety protocols,” said a spokesperson for the department in a statement.

In June, US intelligence agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), declared that they had not found direct evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic originated from an incident at the virology institute in Wuhan. The agencies stated that although extensive research had been conducted on coronaviruses at the virology institute, they had not found evidence of a specific incident that could have caused the outbreak.