The US has cited themselves as one of the causes of the coronavirus. Main

The US Congress has released a report on the coronavirus pandemic. It claims that COVID-19 was developed in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, and spread around the world as a result of a leak. At the same time, the research was carried out with money from an American organization. The report also claims that measures to combat the coronavirus, such as wearing masks, distancing and lockdowns, were not effective. To what conclusions came to the US Congressmen - in the material "Izvestia".

What is known about the origin of the virus

- The 520-page report states that, with a high degree of probability, the coronavirus is of artificial origin, and the source is the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China. It has a track record of SARS research while failing to provide an adequate level of biosafety. WIV employees experienced a coronavirus-like infection in the fall of 2019.

- In addition, COVID-19 has biological traits that do not occur in nature, and the introduction of the virus occurred at a single site, whereas multiple foci usually form. Experience has shown that evidence of the natural origin of infection is found quickly, but in the case of coronavirus has never been presented.

- EcoHealth, a U.S. company with grants from the U.S. government, has been working in Wuhan to develop a virus with similar characteristics to coronavirus. At the same time, it did not inform the US authorities about the dangerous research.

- The leak of COVID-19 outside of WIV occurred as a result of a laboratory incident. Instructions for conducting hazardous research were not sufficiently developed to prevent the incident.

Coronavirus control measures

- The report criticized the measures proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to control the spread of coronavirus. It stated that the requirement to maintain a social distance of 2 meters was not supported by scientific studies, the effectiveness of mandatory mask wearing was also not proven.

- Prolonged lockdowns have harmed the economy and the mental and physical health of the population. Millions of people were forced to abandon their normal way of life, while targeted protection of the most vulnerable was required. Meanwhile, the travel ban imposed by US President Donald Trump has been described as a measure that saved many lives.

- The report claims that US President Joe Biden hastily approved the coronavirus vaccination without considering the possible side effects. The vaccination was carried out without taking into account the development of natural immunity and affected millions of healthy people, causing more harm than good.

Impact of coronavirus control measures

- During the coronavirus pandemic, 160,000 businesses closed, of which 60% did not reopen. This severed supply chains and led to the highest unemployment in the US since the Great Depression of 1929. The Federal Reserve's actions helped avoid a major economic downturn, but led to higher inflation.

- Closing schools was not a valid measure to combat the coronavirus because children were not the spreader of the virus and were not severely ill. School closures led to an educational gap among school children, high stress levels, and decreased physical fitness. The opening of educational facilities took place later than necessary.

- The U.S. government mishandled the distribution of funds during the pandemic, allowing unwarranted waste, fraud, and abuse. The material assistance program resulted in a loss of $64 billion due to corrupt schemes. Another $191 billion was stolen by miscreants using fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits. At least half of taxpayer funds were stolen by foreign fraudsters.