US suspends funding for virus lab in Wuhan | Science

The Chinese institute has not received any federal funding since July 2020, according to a statement from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the medical research agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

The move came after a months-long assessment that the US department said the Chinese institute “does not comply with federal regulations,” according to a memo from the department. “The action was taken due to the Chinese institute’s failure to provide documentation requested by the NIH regarding concerns that it violated NIH safety protocols,” a ministry spokesperson said in a statement. a statement.

In June, US intelligence agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), said they found no direct evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic was triggered by an incident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The services then said that while “extensive work” had been done on coronaviruses at the institute of virology, they had found no evidence of a specific incident that could have triggered the outbreak.