Tag Archives: Gilead

Did US Refuse WHO Investigation Of Fort Detrick?!

Did the United States refuse to let WHO investigate Fort Detrick for evidence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus?!

Take a look at this viral post from China, and find out what the FACTS really are!

 

Claim : US Refused WHO Investigation Of Fort Detrick For COVID-19 Evidence!

This post from China is being repeatedly shared by in WhatsApp groups, as evidence that the United States is trying to hide that they created the COVID-19 virus.

It’s a long read, so if you just want the facts, skip to the next section.

Till today, USA has refused to let WHO International team to investigate Fort Detrick, the origin of the Trumpp virus…your say 🥶

Shocking! Today the poisoning killer was finally found, and it really was the United States!
The truth is creepy, the new crown virus is man-made and originated from the [骷髅] P3 virus laboratory in North Carolina, USA!

 

Truth : WHO Did Not Even Ask To Investigate Fort Detrick!

The super-long WhatsApp post appears to be Google translated from Chinese, with mistakes like :

  • crown virus = coronavirus
  • First News Network = One America Network
  • Greg Roubini = Greg Rubini
  • Ralph Barrick = Ralph Baric
  • Radixivir = Remdesivir
  • Stanley Chela = Stanley Chera

It is also nothing more than a collage of past and present Chinese propaganda on COVID-19, some of which we had already debunked in the past :

And now, let’s go through and fact check the super-long article, to show you why this is just more fake news and yet another piece of Chinese propaganda.

Claim #1 : USA refused to let WHO investigate Fort Detrick
Verdict : FALSE

The WHO team that looked into the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus never requested to investigate Fort Detrick.

That’s simply because Fort Detrick, which is located in the city of Frederick in the US state of Maryland, was not the epicentre of the first COVID-19 outbreak.

The first COVID-19 outbreak happened in Wuhan in the Hubei province of China.

Claim #2 : Fort Detrick Is Source Of SARS-CoV-2
Verdict : FALSE

China’s repeated suggestions that there may have been a leak at the Fort Detrick laboratory is illogical.

If SARS-CoV-2 leaked from Fort Detrick, the city of Frederick in Maryland would have been the epicentre of the initial COVID-19 outbreak, not Wuhan.

That is why the WHO international team not only asked to investigate the Huanan Seafood Market, they also asked to investigate the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Now, this does not mean that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. It merely means the Chinese claim about Fort Detrick is nonsensical.

Claim #3 : Greg Rubini is an American intelligence expert
Verdict : FALSE

Greg Rubini was exposed by Buzzfeed as the alias of a 61 year-old Italian man who worked in marketing and music promotions.

He is definitely NOT American. Neither was he an intelligence expert of any kind.

This false claim was extensively debunked long ago, so it is peculiar why the Chinese keep repeating it.

Claim #4 : SARS-CoV-2 originated in the BSL-3 laboratory in North Carolina
Verdict : FALSE

Wait, didn’t this piece of Chinese propaganda claim that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was created in Fort Detrick?

Fort Detrick is in the state of Maryland; while the University of North Carolina (UNC) is in the state of North Carolina.

Which is it? The virus cannot be created in two separate places.

If it was created in the BSL-3 laboratory at UNC, then why ask for Fort Detrick to be investigated?

The lack of logic in Chinese propaganda is astounding…

UNC Burnett-Womack BSL-3 laboratory

Claim #4 : Luc Montagnier revealed that virus has HIV sequence
Verdict : FALSE

This claim was made in April 2020, when Luc Montagnier actually hypothesised that the SARS-CoV-2 virus came “out of a laboratory in Wuhan“.

Not surprisingly, this piece of Chinese propaganda adroitly skipped past that inconvenient claim…

At that time, Montagnier cited an Indian pre-published study as evidence that the coronavirus was engineered. He did not “reveal” that the virus has HIV genetic sequences.

That Indian paper was withdrawn

Claim #5 : Indian scientists discovered the HIV virus insert in SARS-CoV-2
Verdict : FALSE

The Indian paper that Luc Montagnier cited was posted on BioRxiv, not in February as claimed, but in January 2020.

In their paper, that group of Indian scientists claimed that there were “uncanny similarity of unique inserts” between SARS-CoV-2 and HIV-1, suggesting that the coronavirus was engineered.

That pre-published study was widely criticised by the scientific community, as the similarities it pointed out were very common amongst similar viruses.

The authors quickly withdrew their paper, which was not peer-reviewed, after it was criticised for jumping to conclusions. Subsequent research has shown that their conclusions had no merit.

Claim #6 : COVID-19 originated in the United States
Verdict : FALSE

Analysis of blood samples of donors in various countries, including the United States, revealed that people were infected with COVID-19 before China reported it to the WHO on 31 December 2019.

That led China to push the narrative that the COVID-19 pandemic originated in the United States.

However, there are two problems with that narrative – SARS-CoV-2 is highly contagious, and scientists can analyse its genomic changes over time.

SARS-CoV-2 Is Highly Contagious

SARS-CoV-2 is so contagious that an outbreak is very hard to contain. Look at the severe lockdown measures the Chinese undertook in Wuhan.

There were no such lockdowns in the US, so if SARS-CoV-2 originated in the US, it would have resulted in a massive outbreak.

Obviously, that did not happen, ergo COVID-19 could not possibly have originated in the United States.

Genomic Analysis

Viruses mutate and create new variants over time. A novel virus like SARS-CoV-2 would start with a single ancestral variant and evolve into multiple variants as it spreads globally and mutate over time.

By analysing the genomic changes of these variants, scientists have pretty much concluded that SARS-CoV-2 did indeed originate in China.

The blood sample studies only serve to reinforce the growing opinion that China was either unaware of COVID-19 for many weeks, or covered up the fact that they had a new viral epidemic on their hands.

Claim #7 : Robert Redfield said many deaths in September 2019 were from COVID-19
Verdict : FALSE

Chinese media, like CGTN and New China TV, have actively pushed this false narrative after CDC director, Dr. Robert Redfield, said that some deaths that were initially diagnosed as influenza were later detected as COVID-19.

This happened on 11 March 2020, during the US House Oversight Committee discussion :

Rep. Harley Rouda asked Dr. Redfield if it’s possible that some flu patients may have been misdiagnosed, and actually had COVID-19.

Dr. Redfield replied, “Some cases have actually been diagnosed that way in the United States today“.

At no point did he say that that those deaths were detected in September 2019.

Claim #8 : US soldier Maatje Benassi spread COVID-19 to Wuhan
Verdict : FALSE

Chinese media and netizens have assiduously claimed that COVID-19 was introduced to Wuhan by US soldiers participating in the 2019 Military World Games.

They initially used a video of a Belgian man to push this fake narrative, but later shifted to targeting one specific US soldier – Maatje Benassi.

Maatje Benassi was just one of the hundreds of US soldiers participating in the 2019 Military World Games – essentially the military version of Olympics.

A competitive cyclist, she suffered an accident in the final lap of a 50 mile race, suffering a fractured rib and a concussion.

Despite not being diagnosed with COVID-19, she was accused of being Patient Zero, who spread COVID-19 to Wuhan.

Both Chinese propaganda outlet, Global Times, and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, participated in this false narrative.

U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Maatje Benassi of the U.S. Armed Forces Cycling Team leads the group during the women’s road race event of the 2019 CISM Military World Games in Wuhan, China Oct. 20, 2019. (DoD/EJ Hersom)

Claim #9 : Maatje Benassi works at Fort Detrick
Verdict : FALSE

Maatje Benassi does not work at Fort Detrick.

She was an Army reservist assigned to the 312th Observer-Controller Trainer unit at Fort Meade – about 91 km away from Fort Detrick.

Claim #10 : Ralph Baric developed the SARS-CoV-2 virus
Verdict : FALSE

There is no evidence that Ralph Baric, or any other person, developed the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Claim #11 : Remdesivir was developed for COVID-19 before it existed
Verdict : FALSE

Remdesivir is a broad-spectrum antiviral medication, that works by inhibiting viral RNA polymerase, which exists in most RNA viruses. That means it could work against a broad range of viruses.

It was initially developed to treat hepatitis C and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in 2009, but failed to work against them.

It was then studied as a potential treatment for Ebola and Marburg virus infections, before it was discovered to work in vitro (in the lab) against multiple filoviruses, pneumoviruses, paramyxoviruses and coronaviruses.

Therefore, the claim that Remdesivir was created to treat COVID-19 before it existed, is false.

Claim #12 : Remdesivir is an antidote for COVID-19
Verdict : FALSE

The US FDA approved remdensivir for use in COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalisation on 22 October 2020, after three promising trials.

However, in November 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended AGAINST the use of remdesivir in COVID-19 patients, after the Solidarity trial determined that it had “little to no effect on hospitalised COVID-19“.

Therefore, the claim that Remdesivir is an antidote or cure for COVID-19 is also false.

 

Why Would China Push Fake Fort Detrick Claim?

With China’s aggressive foreign policy moves in recent years, it is not uncommon to see fake pro-China, anti-America stories being created and shared.

Many believe it’s part of a concerted attempt to burnish China’s image overseas, and drown out negative coverage of China’s controversial Belt and Road Initiative, and their aggressive moves in the South China Sea..

China has also been blamed for not handling the initial COVID-19 epidemic better, and unfairly – for being the origin of this new virus.

Hence, they have been trying their best to deflect blame by casting aspersions unto others, using aggressive Wolf Warrior diplomacy tactics, propaganda outlets like Global Times and CTGN, and their 50 Cent Army (wumao, 五毛).

This fake news appears to be part of the disinformation campaign conducted by the Chinese 50 Cent Army (wumao, 五毛).

Please help us fight such malicious fake news – SHARE this fact check far and wide!

 

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

 

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Did COVID-19 Leak From Gilead Sciences Lab In Fort Detrick?

Did a lab assistant expose how Gilead Sciences covered up the leak of COVID-19 from their Fort Detrick laboratory?

Take a look at the viral farewell note exposing this cover-up, and find out what the FACTS really are!

 

Claim : COVID-19 Leaked From Gilead Sciences Lab In Fort Detrick!

A document with the filename “Covid -19 Truth_Confession Exposed.pdf” is being shared on WhatsApp, together with this message :

👆The farewell note by an Ex-Gilead Sciences Fort Derrick Lab assistant who confessed COVID-19 leaked from the lab in Maryland. CDC covered up the facts. Her supervisor Prof Frank Plummer and others who know the facts were all killed and she now fears for her life. Virus was transported to Wuhan by seafood. She apologized to the world.

The PDF document contains the screenshot from an August 2020 post by one “Samantha Hill“, together with a diagram.

Sorry, we played an evil part in the outbreak of COVID-19

I am anonymous, I used to be an American, but I am more of an Indian. I learnt in the University of Manitoba and did some trivial work in the Fort Detrick Laboratory after graduation. My supervisor and I know almost everything about COVID-19, and that’s why he was killed. Now I came back to India. I gather myself up and decide to tell the truth, hoping I will still be alive when all of you learn the truth.

Note : We added the FAKE overlay to prevent the diagram from being further abused.

 

No, COVID-19 Did Not Leak From Gilead Sciences Lab In Fort Detrick!

This is yet another FAKE STORY that appears to be part of a Chinese propaganda effort to shift the blame for COVID-19 to the United States.

Let me show you why this is completely made up, and is nothing more than Chinese propaganda.

Fact #1 : This Fake Story Was Posted In August 2020

This fake story was originally posted on a new Facebook account with the name “Samantha Hill” on 11 August 2020.

The writer tried to frame himself as an American of Indian descent, even using Hindi hashtags. But her post gained little traction on Facebook. It was only widely shared on Weibo by Chinese netizens.

It appears to have been resurrected after the United States under President Biden started an earnest look at whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus might have accidentally been leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Fact #2 : The Writer Is Not A Scientist Or American

The writer, Samantha Hill, claimed to be an American who worked as Gilead Sciences lab assistant at their Fort Detrick Laboratory.

However, the Facebook post is rife with numerous scientific and linguistic mistakes, like :

  • virusology : the proper term is virology
  • breeding : viruses are not living organisms – they do not breed. They replicate, and we manufacture them in host cells.
  • villagers : a common term in China, but have you seen Americans call anyone a villager?
  • SARS II : this is a nonsensical name. The official name for the COVID-19 virus was nCoV-2019, before it became SARS-CoV-2 on 11 February 2020.
  • practitioners : Americans call them scientists…

These linguistics mistakes suggest that the writer is most likely a layperson of Chinese origin, not Indian and certainly not American.

Fact #3 : Screenshot Was Taken By Creator

The Facebook account was deleted, but the screenshot is now being circulated in June 2021 in the form of a PDF document.

Interestingly, this new screenshot can only come from the person who created the Samantha Hill post.

We know this because the screenshot shows the Facebook privacy selector (marked in red below), which only appears for the post creator!

Only the person who created the post would be able to take that screenshot.

Fact #4 : 赵盛烨 (Zhao Shenye) Could Be The Creator

Samantha Hill claimed to be an American of Indian ethnicity. But I will now show you why “she” is most likely a Chinese man called 赵盛烨 (Zhao Shenye).

As I noted in Fact #3, the screenshot can only be taken by the post creator, “Samantha Hill”.

If you look at the bottom right corner of the screenshot, you will find a watermark – the Weibo handle of 赵盛烨 (Zhao Shenye), who also goes by the name xodn.

And if you take a look at Zhao Shenye’s Weibo page, the latest post (on 14 February 2021) is about Gain of Function (GOF) virus modification by Professor Baric and Dr. Peter Daszak!

Looks like we hit pay dirt! Zhao Shenye could be the mysterious Samantha Hill…

Fact #5 : Fort Detrick Belongs To US Army

Fort Detrick is a massive 13,000-acre campus that belongs to the United States Army.

It is home to the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) laboratory, which China has suggested leaked the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Fort Detrick is completely owned and managed by the US Army Futures Command, and that includes the USAMRIID laboratory.

There are NO PRIVATE laboratories inside Fort Detrick. So Gilead Sciences cannot possibly operate one inside Fort Detrick.

Fact #6 : Gilead Sciences Does Not Have Labs In Maryland

Gilead Sciences Inc. does not own or operate any laboratory in the state of Maryland. Here are the current locations of their US laboratories :

  • Foster City, California : headquarters and antiviral research facilities
  • Miami, Florida : respiratory research and clinical development activities
  • Seattle, Washington : respiratory research and clinical development activities

Fact #7 : Fort Detrick Sterilisation Plant Failed But Posed No Risk

The CDC temporarily shut down the US Army lab at Fort Detrick on 2 August 2019, after finding “biosafety lapses” there.

However, that was not because viruses actually leaked from the facility, but rather :

  • the lab was no longer able to decontaminate wastewater from its highest security labs.
  • their steam sterilisation plant was damaged in a flood in May 2018, and they had been using a chemical decontamination method instead.
  • no disease-causing materials were found outside authorised areas

Fact #8 : Wuhan Was Epicentre Of COVID-19 Outbreak

China’s continuous suggestions that there may have been a leak at the Fort Detrick laboratory is illogical.

If SARS-CoV-2 leaked from Fort Detrick, the city of Frederick in Maryland would have been the epicentre of the initial COVID-19 outbreak, not Wuhan.

Now, this does not mean that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. It merely means the Chinese claim about Fort Detrick is nonsensical.

Fact #9 : Remdesivir Is Pretty Much Useless Against COVID-19

GS-5734 is the development code name for Remdesivir, and it is pretty much useless against COVID-19.

There were promising early results which led to the US granting it emergency use authorisation on 1 May 2020 for severe COVID-19.

However, by September 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued guidance NOT to use remdesivir in people with COVID-19, as “there was no good evidence of benefit”.

So the idea that Gilead Sciences created the SARS-CoV-2 virus to sell remdesivir is idiotic.

Fact #10 : Gilead Sciences Does Not Own BlackRock

BlackRock is the world’s largest asset management company, and is more than 50% larger than Gilead Sciences by market capitalisation.

BlackRock is certainly NOT a subsidiary of Gilead Sciences, as Samantha Hill claimed. In fact, BlackRock owns about 8.9% of Gilead Sciences shares (as of 29 January 2021)!

Fact #11 : Dr. Frank Plummer Died Of A Heart Attack

Dr. Frank Plummer was not assassinated while flying from Kenya to China.

He died of a heart attack in Kenya on 5 February 2020, where he was attending the 40th anniversary of the HIV research collaboration between the University of Manitoba and the University of Nairobi.

Fact #12 : SARS-CoV-2 Was Detected By Chinese Doctors

The SARS-CoV-2 virus was detected by Chinese doctors, not by “Chinese epidemic prevention departments”.

It appears that Dr. Ai Fen was the first Chinese doctor who “discovered” SARS-CoV-2 when she treated two patients who presented with symptoms of COVID-19.

The test at that time came back as “SARS coronavirus”, so she reported it to the hospital’s public health department and infectious diseases department.

She took a picture of the report, circled the word “SARS” and sent it to a colleague at another hospital in Wuhan. The picture circulated until it reached Dr. Li Wenliang – the famous whistleblower doctor, who sent it forward as a warning to former classmates on WeChat.

Both Dr. Ai Fen and Dr. Li Wenliang were reprimanded for spreading rumours. So the claim that COVID-19 was caught by Chinese epidemic prevention departments is nonsense.

Fact #13 : No Evidence COVID-19 Spread Through Frozen Food

It is plausible that the SARS-CoV-2 can be contracted through fomites – contaminated items or surfaces. That would include food items, both fresh and frozen.

However, WHO points out there has been NO SPECIFIC REPORTS of anyone getting COVID-19 through fomite transmission.

The US CDC also has a specific page on fomite transmission of COVID-19, whether they concluded that as of 5 April 2021…

  • People can (potentially) be infected with SARS-CoV-2 through contact with surfaces.
  • Based on available epidemiological data, the risk surface transmission is considered to be low.
  • Cleaning surfaces using soap or detergent is enough.
  • Risk of fomite transmission can be reduced by wearing masks, good hand hygiene and cleaning.

In addition, imported frozen seafood are sold all over China. If COVID-19 was intentionally seeded through frozen seafood by the United States, it would have sparked multiple outbreaks, not just in Wuhan.

There is also the inconvenient fact that it was discovered later that the first COVID-19 case in Wuhan had NOTHING to do with the Huanan seafood market!

 

Why Would China Push Fake Gilead Sciences Claim?

With China’s aggressive foreign policy moves in recent years, it is not uncommon to see fake pro-China, anti-America stories being created and shared.

Many believe it’s part of a concerted attempt to burnish China’s image overseas, and drown out negative coverage of China’s controversial Belt and Road Initiative, and their aggressive moves in the South China Sea..

China has also been blamed for not handling the initial COVID-19 epidemic better, and unfairly – for being the origin of this new virus.

Hence, they have been trying their best to deflect blame by casting aspersions unto others, using aggressive Wolf Warrior diplomacy tactics, propaganda outlets like Global Times and CTGN, and their 50 Cent Army.

 

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer /  PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

 

Recommended Reading

Go Back To > Fact CheckHealth | Tech ARP

 

Support Tech ARP!

If you like our work, please support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Thank you!