More than a year into the pandemic, scientists are still debating Covid-19’s origins, but with each analysis of the disaster published, Wuhan remains at the center of the outbreak.

Several shocking revelations were revealed in an explosive report, including the possibility that sewage systems were polluting waterways with hazardous waste from the laboratories, university students failing to wear lab coats or eye protection, and the facilities being criticized for being "chaotic and overcrowded.

Because of China's lax attitude toward bio lab safety and the insufficient protection offered to employees and students, the notion that the outbreak began in a lab in Wuhan should come as no surprise to anybody who knows the country.

A Covid-related controversy has surrounded the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which is located just a few miles away from the laboratory previously known to be studying very similar bat viruses. The WIV has been at the epicenter of the Covid controversy for more than a year.

According to official Chinese statements, the virus was transferred from animals to humans; however, catastrophic biosecurity breaches dating back more than 40 years have led some to question this assertion.

According to findings from an in-depth examination of many other facilities in Wuhan that do coronavirus research on bats, a long list of flagrant errors has been discovered that must be addressed.

Researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and Wuhan University have identified several worrisome biosafety problems, and they should be addressed seriously.

In addition, they assert that suspicion should not be limited to WIV alone but that it is likely that all of Wuhan's laboratories should be scrutinized in the quest to discover the source of Covid's contamination.

In the damning 60-page report on the laboratories, compiled by Billy Bostickson, an anonymous researcher from DRASTIC, an international network of scientists and forensic experts seeking to fill in the gaps concerning Covid's origins, teamed with Yvette Ghannam, a Walden University professor, to expose the labs' practices.

WITH crumbling sewers and filthy animal cages, these are the shoddy conditions of labs in Wuhan, which could have unleashed Covid.

The labs at Wuhan University were found to be cluttered with "a lot of debris" in 2019, just months before the deadly virus began spreading throughout the world. There were also no safety measures in place, and students were not required to wear lab coats, according to an inspection conducted in 2019.

According to the researchers' discovery and quotation of a concerning report, there were no chemical disposal facilities on site, and the "experiment" sections were not isolated from the common areas, resulting in the possibility of cross-contamination.

Inspecting officers reported that it left the labs in a "crowded and chaotic" state.

"Either by an infected researcher at one of the Wuhan University laboratories or through an experimental animal," Bostickson and Ghannam concluded, adding that the mistakes "suggest the likelihood of a lab leak" of the Covid virus.

In addition, the authors reported on a concerning discovery made at the neighboring Wuhan Institute of Biological Products.

In the course of their research into the plant, they discovered that its sewage and drainage systems were broken and outdated, "perhaps polluting nearby canals and streams."

The following was stated in a 2019 tender from China Testing Network: "Some of the equipment and facilities are outdated, and the instrumentation and control functions in the station have been destroyed, which has significantly hampered the station's regular functioning."

Researchers also discovered the enormous scale of the WIV's animal research center, which has been a source of controversy as questions about the epidemic's origins had been raised.

The structure, which measures 1,216 square meters and has 3,268 cubic meters of space, was built in 1996.

There are also 126 cages for Japanese white rabbits and 340 cages for rats at the facility.

According to the researchers, the facility collects bats from the wild to utilize them as experimental animals, according to researchers - and a video released this week appears to be the first to show the critters in their natural habitat.

"At least three laboratories were actively involved in studies of bat coronaviruses and/or bat sampling activities without the use of proper PPE in the years leading up to the Covid-19 pandemic," Bostickson and Ghannam said.

"These three laboratories are thus considered potential sources for accidental leaks whether within the laboratory or during field sampling expeditions."

A conspiracy idea that was first rejected has gathered popularity to President Joe Biden has asked US agents to investigate.

According to reports, British intelligence has also looked into the lab leak scenario and has determined that it is more likely than not to be true.

As Bostickson said to The Sun Online, the report gives further circumstantial evidence of a lab leak, but "nothing substantial."

"We require more whistleblowers, more internal papers, and the subpoenaing and questioning of Peter Daszak and others," he stated.

Daszak is the founder and executive director of EcoHealth Alliance, a non-profit organization in New York that received funding from the National Institutes of Health in the United States to support disputed gain-of-function research in Wuhan.

To the question of whether an accidental lab leak might have been caused by human error or deliberate action, Bostickson responded, "I don't think [it was] deliberate, but you never know."

In an interview with The Sun Online, Gilles Demaneuf, a data analyst from DRASTIC, said that the WIV is a "strong contender" for the source of the lab leak - but that it might have come from any of a number of laboratories in the city of Wuhan.

According to him, "DRASTIC was never just focused on WIV... we began by examining all facilities involved in bat coronavirus research, including the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, which is right next door."

In addition, Richard H Ebright, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University, stated that workers at the WIV who were working on studies involving bat SARS-related coronaviruses were inadequately safeguarded and that there was a lack of vigilance in regards to biosecurity.

He claimed that they utilized "personal protective equipment, which was typically simply gloves; occasionally there were no gloves at all," and that the safety requirements were "normally only Biosafety level 2."

Professor Ebright stated that "interaction with a virus with the transmission characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 would represent a significant risk of infection to field-collection, field-survey, or laboratory personnel."

He is a rising number of experts who believe the lab leak idea should be thoroughly investigated. He has stated that he is open to the possibility that Covid was spread to humans through animals.

He asserted that there is "circumstantial evidence" that is notable but still "worthy of mention."

                      Wuhan Lab Hypothesis or Animal-Human Leap? The Hunt for Covid-19’s Origins | WSJ