Foreign news

Coronavirus Pandemic: A glimpse of top bio-safety level lab in Wuhan

Published

5 years ago

July 9, 2020

The Wuhan Institute of Virology has been at the center of COVID-19 speculations across the world. Some of the theories say that the coronavirus originated from its lab and that its researchers secretly sold experimental animals in the wet market. CGTN reporter Hu Chao visited the Institute’s top bio-safety level lab and talked to a senior lab official there who dismissed the accusations.

In the outskirts of the city, one can find the Wuhan National Biosafety Lab housed within the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

HU CHAO CGTN “This national biosafety laboratory runs two levels of labs, P3 and P4. The P4 lab, the biosafety level 4 lab, is the top level. And for many, it may seem a bit mysterious. What does it look like and what happens inside? Now let’s find out.”

The letter “P” stands for pathogen, the higher the number after it, the more dangerous the pathogen.

A rating of P4 designates a lab as a maximum-security area. And the Wuhan bio-lab is one of few in the world with such a rating. Its director recalls how it was established.

YUAN ZHIMING Director, Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory “The SARS outbreak in 2003 exposed weaknesses in China’s public health system. That was when we decided to start building a high-level biosafety lab.”

It was a project between China and France, one that took 15 years to complete. The lab became fully operational by 2018. So why did it take such a long time?

YUAN ZHIMING Director, Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory “Aside from the technical complexities, we also had to set up relevant management systems and train relevant personnel to ensure safe operations. In 2018, we finally got national accreditation for experimental activities in the lab. This meant that China would have its own lab for research on deadly viruses. And China’s biosafety lab system began to take shape.”

Only qualified personnel are allowed inside the P4 lab, all of whom must have extensive biosafety training and experience.

As visitors, we were granted special access after identity and security checks. With the help of a staff member at the lab, we entered the P4 lab, but found ourselves confined to the hallways due to security requirements.

YUAN ZHIMING Director, Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory “A P4 lab comes with a biosafety platform to ensure researchers are safe from the pathogens they work on and that the pathogens stay within the lab. We have a complex system for electricity, air filtration, emergency shower, automations, fire safety and life support. All these facilities work to ensure a negative-pressure confined space.”

The P4 lab is mainly used for research on deadly viruses, especially those without a known cure or a vaccine. It can take nearly half an hour for each person to enter or exit the lab.

Personnel must wear positive-pressure suits, which feature hoses for breathable air. All waste items will undergo biosafety disposal and sterilization via high temperature and pressure facilities.

YUAN ZHIMING Director, Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory “Without authorization, not even a mosquito can sneak into the lab and none of our researchers can take even a drop of water or a piece of paper out of the lab. So, when some people speculated that we might take the experimental animals out to sell or that these animals might escape from our lab, they actually had no idea about the management and operations of our lab.”

A comprehensive safety check is conducted every year. The lab’s compound covers an area of more than 3,000 square meters. Its core area is over 1,000 square meters.

YUAN ZHIMING Director, Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory “In fact, the lab is like a box within a box. People might envision it as a secretive black box. But as you can see, it’s a very open and transparent lab. People from the outside can see what goes on inside and vice versa. We hope to make it a platform for inter

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Foreign news

French Envoy Seeks Collaboration With NAN To Boost Seamless Relationship

Published

1 month ago

February 5, 2025

The Gleamer

The new French envoy to Nigeria, Marc Fonbaustier, on Wednesday called for collaboration with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) toward strengthening the mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries.

Fonbaustier, who is the French ambassador to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, made the call when he paid a courtesy visit to Malam Ali Muhammad Ali, NAN’s Managing Director, in Abuja.
The ambassador said that his purpose of visiting was to pay tribute to the MD, and to seek collaboration in three areas with a view to promoting stronger, seamless and fruitful partnership between both countries.

He added that Nigeria and its people were hospitable, especially to the foreigners and ambassadors alike.

He added that Nigeria was a country with so much energy, strength, stamina and so many talents.

In Nigeria, with the population of this size, it is inevitable that the elites of the country are very outstanding, “and there may be a Franco/Nigeria moments now”, he jokes.

According to him, France and Nigeria can collaborate more and learn from each other.
“I could feel it particularly during the state visit of President Bola Tinubu which took place in November 2024.

“I was there and I could see the intensity, the strength and the scope of the partnership, and I am here to scale up that partnership in all sectors.

“I am coming here for three reasons, first, to pay a tribute to the NAN MD and his team for the quality of this agency. We can testify that the contents that you publish are very factual, and also very well set up and structured.

“You do fact checking and you really do try to provide the community with quality information. I think, as a French ambassador, I can recognise that as part of a living democracy,” he said.

The French ambassador said the second reason for the visit was to intimate the NAN MD of France’s eagerness to go on partnership with NAN saying he hoped for assurance of a seamless, fluid and easy relationship.

He said that his third reason stemmed from his observation that NAN recently signed some partnership framework agreements with Egypt and China, saying “it may be time to think of balancing this partnership with others”.

“Especially with French, and to talk with Agence France-Presse (AFP) to see if there’s ground for a closer relationship between NAN and AFP.

“Which is also a recognised agency like yours, and I bet you the sky will be the limit to the collaboration, ’’he said.

Responding, the NAN MD informed the envoy that the agency was African’s biggest news content provider on account of its size.

Ali gave the envoy a little details of the agency’s operation and its outreach, saying “as our continent’s biggest news content provider, we have offices nationwide and in selected African countries.

“We have offices in countries such as South Africa, Cote d’ivoire, Addis Ababa, and then we have offices also beyond the shores of Africa. We have in New York and we are the only resident wire service in the United Nations.

“At a time in the past, the agency had 11 foreign offices, including Moscow, and presently, we are trying to re-open some of our shut offices, especially in London.
“We value partnership and understanding that we have with similar news organisation such as Reuters and, incidentally, we have a long standing relationship with AFP which you just raised.
“I know for years we have exchange of news between NAN and AFP but it’s a cooperation that we will like to strengthen and with your greater involvement,’’ he said.

The MD commended the ambassador for reaching out and engaging with some Nigerians communities to douse the tension of the allegation made by the Nigeriens.

He also lauded the envoy’s leadership and visibility to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, “which has helped to douse the perception and misconceptions about France, especially in the Sahel”.
“I think you have helped to reverse some of this perceptions. I thank you for the kind words that you said about the agency and about our management.

“We also see partnership as an important tool in checking the spread of fake news.
“We’ve seen instances where fake news has done great deal of damage, and with the coming of social media it has done even greater damage.

“Our country is facing a lot of challenges, one of which is the increasing insecurity, and the social media has been used by those who do not want to see our country to prosper,” Ali said.
He further said that NAN was a credible news agency that always fact check to correct the wrong narratives by those who are in the business of causing troubles.

He also told the envoy that the agency has its content in the Nigerian indigenous languages, starting with Hausa and it would proceed to Yoruba and Igbo languages later, “then later in future to French.

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