As per a previously undisclosed US intelligence report, lab staff at the Wuhan Institute of Virology sought hospital care in November 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic was disclosed to the rest of the world, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

The report, that discusses the number of researchers, the timing of their illnesses and their hospital visits has added fresh fuel to the already fuming 'lab-leak' theory pertaining to the origins of the novel Coronavirus. It says that the researchers at WIV became sick in autumn 2019 “with symptoms consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illness.”

The Wuhan Institute, which is known to have conducted research on deadly viruses close to Covid-19 hasn’t shared raw data, safety logs and lab records on the same, which many consider the most likely source of the virus.

As per epidemiologists, SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind Covid-19 began circulating around the central city of Wuhan in November 2019, where the first confirmed case of Covid-19 was reported in December 2019. China has however maintained a firm denial over the lab-leak theory and has alleged that it is "hyped by the US".

On Sunday, after the aforementioned reports were presented in a meeting of WHO's decision making body to discuss the next stage of investigation on Covid-19's origins, China’s foreign ministry cited a WHO-led team’s conclusion, after a visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in February, that a lab leak was extremely unlikely. 

The Biden administration on the other hand has demanded a thorough investigation of all possible scenarios. ​Dr. Anthony Fauci, US President's top medical advisor has said that he’s “not convinced” the deadly virus developed naturally and has called for further investigations as to where it emerged.

US engaged in dangerous Scientific Research on virus closest to Covid with China: Republican Report

Last Thursday, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released a report claiming there is “significant circumstantial evidence” that the coronavirus originated from a leak at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, and that the US government “may have funded or collaborated” in the research that led to it.

“International efforts to discover the true source of the virus, however, have been stymied by a lack of cooperation from the People’s Republic of China,” the Republicans wrote in the report.

It speaks in detail about dangerous experiments being conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) since 2016, warnings of which had been relayed by the US envoys in China. The report also questions the role of an American institute (NIAID) headed by top medical expert Dr. Anthony Fauci which allegedly funded labs in Wuhan to carry out research on Coronaviruses. 

"Since the initial COVID-19 outbreak, the Chinese government has lied, obfuscated, covered up and blocked the flow of information about the origins of the pandemic. It took Beijing nearly three weeks to even acknowledge there was the human-to-human transfer of the virus. The WIV and the Chinese government stymied and manipulated the WHO's 28-day review of COVID-19's origins and they silenced medical workers and journalists trying to report on the outbreak," an excerpt from the report reads, adding that China has suppressed all records at the Wuhan Institute and closed down its virus database. 

The Republican report concludes by expressing concern over the fact that the US Government 'directly or indirectly' might have engaged in dangerous scientific research with China.