Coronavirus: The debate over claim it came from Wuhan Institute of Virology | South China Morning Post

A theory that the Covid-19 pandemic could have been sparked by the escape of a virus from a Chinese laboratory has amped up tensions between Washington and Beijing. It has also raised questions about US funding for bat coronavirus research at a lab at the heart of the controversy. Among those driving the questions is US Senator Rand Paul, who has repeatedly accused Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), of lying about US financing for gain of function research enhancing bat viruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and suggested that Fauci is…