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The researchers at Boston University have claimed that they have developed a Covid-19 strain that inflicts severe disease and has 80 per cent kill rate. The ones that are dominant across the world such as the sub-variants of Omicron are said to be mild when it comes to their severity. To develop the most lethal Covid strain, the researchers, according to a report, extracted the spike protein from Omicron and genetically engineered it into the strain of Covid-19 which was first detected in China’s Wuhan and tried it on mice.
The researchers said in their research paper: “In…mice, while Omicron causes mild, non-fatal infection, the Omicron S-carrying virus inflicts severe disease with a mortality rate of 80 per cent.”
While 80 per cent of mice died from the new man-made Covid strain, none faced a similar fate from a milder Omicron variant, the researchers found.
The researchers at the Boston University said the new strain has five times more infectious virus particles than the Omicron. With this, many have suspected that even the first Covid-19 virus was also a laboratory-made mistake.
UPROAR AFTER THE DISCOVERY
When the coronavirus pandemic began, many had believed that the virus was created at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. “This should be totally forbidden, it’s playing with fire,” Professor Shmuel Shapira, a leading scientist in the Israeli government, was quoted as saying by Daily Mail.
Dr Richard Ebright, a chemist at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, said, “If we are to avoid a next lab-generated pandemic, it is imperative that oversight of enhanced potential pandemic pathogen research be strengthened.”
“The government says law-abiding citizens can’t have a rifle or shotgun. They’re just too dangerous. Meanwhile, they’re literally engineering deadly viruses,” Ezra Levant, a journalist, said.
A Boston University spokesperson said, “This research mirrors and reinforces the findings of other, similar research performed by other organizations. Ultimately, this research will provide a public benefit by leading to better, targeted therapeutic interventions to help fight against future pandemics.”
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