Rare footage shows scientists working at controversial Wuhan virus lab as the head of the institute says 'there's no way' coronavirus originated there

Rare footage has shown scientists carrying out research works at a Wuhan virus laboratory as the head of the team claimed 'there's no way' the novel coronavirus originated there.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology, which keeps more than 1,500 strains of deadly viruses, has become the centre of controversy amid the global crisis.

Startling theories claim that the virus was leaked from the establishment, which has China's only lab with the highest biosafety level of P4.

A video released by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV in February provides a glimpse into the institute.

The £34million lab is affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It was completed in 2015 and officially opened in 2018.

In the clip, one researcher, named Zhang Huajun, demonstrates how he and one colleague put on two layers of protective suits and pass five air-tight chambers before entering the core part of the lab.

The lab is said to have three testing rooms, two animal storage rooms, one virus bank and one animal-dissection room. Twenty-four scientists can work there at the same time.

Researcher Zhang said the building was designed in such a way that air can only flow into the lab from the outside, not the other way around, to prevent leaks. 

US President Donald Trump said last week that Washington was investigating if the coronavirus first crossed to humans accidentally during experiments with bats at the lab.

China insisted that the WHO has found no evidence the novel coronavirus was man-made.

Dr Yuan Zhiming, the deputy head of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, hit back at the accusations in an interview with state media over the weekend.

'There's no way this virus came from us,' Dr Yuan told CGTN, the English-language arm of CCTV.

'I know it's impossible,' he added.

Dr Yuan said that a man-made coronavirus would be beyond human intelligence as he rejected claims that the virus was artificially engineered.

'Some scientists believe that to synthesise a virus requires extraordinary intelligence or workload, so I have never believed that we humans have the capabilities at this time to create such a virus,' he explained.

Dr Yuan attributed the theories to the fact that the institute and the P4 lab are in Wuhan, so 'people can't help but make associations which I think is understandable'.

But he criticised people who 'are deliberately trying to mislead people'. He blamed US senator Tom Cotton and the Washington Post for promoting such claims.

'They have no evidence or knowledge. This is entirely based on speculation,' he denounced.

'Part of the purpose is to confuse people, to interfere with our entire epidemic activities or our scientific activities.'

Although scientists believe that the virus jumped to humans from wild animals sold as food in a market about 10 miles from the lab, conspiracy theorists promote different assumptions.

Some people claim that the virus, formally known as SARS-CoV-2, could be a biological warfare weapon engineered there. Others suspect that it escaped from the lab.

Shi Zhengli, a deputy director at the institute, told the press in February that she 'guaranteed with her own life' that the outbreak was not related to the lab.

The institute also refuted reports which named Huang Yanling, a researcher at the Institute of Virology, as 'patient zero' – the first person to be infected.

'I can tell you for sure that none of our students, retirees or any of our staff has been infected,' Dr Yuan said.

American intelligence services have reportedly launched a full-scale investigation into the lab over claims that scientists there allowed the novel coronavirus to escape as part of a botched experiment, leading to a global pandemic.

China has denied speculation that the pathogen originated inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab, though US government agencies are now said to be piecing together a timeline of what authorities in Beijing knew to 'create an accurate picture of what happened'.

Sources told Fox News on Friday that American analysts will present their findings 'in the near term' to President Trump, who will then huddle with aides to determine how to hold China accountable for the pandemic.

The American intelligence sources told Fox News that analysts in Washington have ruled out the theory that the coronavirus was engineered by Chinese scientists as a bioweapon.

Experts note that the genome mapping of the virus indicates that there were no genetic alterations made to it.

US sources told Fox News they believe that 'patient zero' became infected with coronavirus as it was being studied inside the lab.

The infected person then is believed to have spread the virus throughout the city and onwards.

While the exact origin of the virus remains unknown, the broad scientific consensus holds that SARS-CoV-2 came from bats.

COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, has killed more than 165,000 people and infected over 2.4 million worldwide since the pandemic began in Wuhan last December.