In tracing the origins of Covid-19, it should be compared to this novel coronavirus that originated out of Saudi Arabia to see if it is the same or had been altered in a lab (Wuhan or the Winnipeg lab in Canada) to create Covid-19. Note: Frank Plummer who possessed the sample mysterious died in Feb 2020 overseas. Also Xiangguo Qiu and her husband were forcibly removed from the Winnipeg facility in July 2019 for sending samples from the lab to China. There's secrecy surrounding their removal.
Saudi Coronavirus Work Stymied At Canadian Lab
"Until doctors and researchers know how the virus works, it can't be controlled, Hartl said.
Hartl wouldn't comment on how material transfer agreements might limit international scientific collaboration, but notes "in general, the more we know about this virus, the better the world is."
"We need international collaboration and scientists are fully aware of the need to collaborate internationally. And of course there are… many concerns, intellectual property, publishing concerns," he said.
"The more work that is done on this, the faster we'll be able to learn something really useful and helpful to our efforts in the field to control the virus."
He suggested that all countries should look more closely at unexplained instances of severe respiratory illness and test them to make sure they're not dealing with the new coronavirus. The virus is named for the crown-like appearance it has under an electron microscope.
Those preliminary tests are possible because of the genetic sequencing laboratory work done in the Netherlands. Zaki also recognizes the experience of SARS, another member of the coronavirus family that killed 774 worldwide, including 44 in Toronto, a decade ago.
"Now we have a virus before us without an outbreak and the scientific community have a diagnostic test, so we are in a very better situation [than] with SARS.""
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/saudi-coronavirus-work-stymied-at-canadian-lab-1.1322426