The “scientists” on this planet cannot stop messing with viruses and trying to figure out ways to make them more deadly. Researchers at Imperial College London have hybridized the original strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (which causes COVID-19) with both the Omicron or Delta variants separately.
Both of these strains are potentially lethal, even though the Imperial College has yet to release data on just how deadly either could be. They have also denied that the work constitutes a gain of function, the process now widely believed to have been responsible for the original strain that is widely thought to have come from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
As a part of the research, hamsters were infected with mutant viruses, blends of the original Wuhan strain, and parts of Omicron or Delta, according to a report by The Daily Mail.
Critics of this type of research called it “insane” and warned the lab trials could, in theory, unleash a new viral threat and a new pandemic. This time, it would be far more severe and deadly as that’s what the viruses were engineered to do.
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Molecular biology expert Dr. Richard Ebright warned that the new mutant strain, “is insanity, both in terms of the redundancy and waste,” and that it has zero “foreseeable practical applications.”
Imperial’s study was partly funded by the Government, through an offshoot of an agency called UK Research and Innovation. Imperial College defended its research with a spokesperson saying: “This government-backed research used viruses no more pathogenic than those already circulating within the population and will provide crucial insights that support government decision-making on how to manage the pandemic.”
“It was conducted in a biosafety level three laboratory in line with strict government regulations, and received ongoing approval from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE),” the spokesperson added.