China appoints 'Terminator of Ebola' in Wuhan -- Major General Chen Wei, China's foremost bio-warfare expert
As per a PLA Daily report, Major General Wei has been leading efforts to contain the virus at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. She was appointed to the rank of Major General in 2015 by President Xi Jinping.
Major General Chen Wei is leading the efforts at the Wuhan Institute of Virology to contain the Coronavirus outbreak. |  Photo Credit: Twitter
Key Highlights
- On 1 February, the People's Liberation Army Daily, the official online media arm of the Chinese Army, reported that Chen Wei had been spearheading the efforts to diagnose and contain the Coronavirus outbreak
- Wei's work was recognised in 2015, when she was personally awarded the title of Major General by current Chinese President Xi Jinping
- Wei's experience with Coronaviruses dates back to the 2003 SARS outbreak, and she has also previously worked on the Bacillus anthracis strain that causes anthrax
According to the latest reports from Chinese state agencies, China has deployed its premier biochemical warfare expert Chen Wei to Wuhan to be at the helm of the secretive Wuhan Institute of Virology. Amid a flurry of conspiracy theories alleging that the novel Coronavirus strain, 2019-nCoV or COVID-2019 was a biologically engineered virus, Wei's appointment has further stoked rumours that the Chinese government has not been entirely forthright in its explanation of where the virus threat originated from.
On 1 February, the People's Liberation Army Daily, the official online media arm of the Chinese Army, reported that Chen Wei had been spearheading the efforts to diagnose and contain the Coronavirus outbreak that has seen the entire province of Hubei quarantined. Although China only announced the outbreak of the virus strain on 31 December, newly published studies show that 'patient zero' was diagnosed on 1 December.
Wei - who is reported to be a medical researcher at the Academy of Military Sciences, and an academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering - has plenty of knowledge around the Coronavirus family. Wei's experience with Coronaviruses dates back to the 2003 SARS outbreak, and she has also previously worked on the Bacillus anthracis strain that causes anthrax. Wei is also popularly called, 'the terminator of Ebola' for her work in containing the Ebola virus.
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The 54-year old, reportedly, received her Master's degree from Tsinghua University, before securing her doctorate from the Academy of Military Medical Sciences in 1998. She was immediately instituted as a member of the faculty upon her graduation. Wei's work was recognised in 2015 when she was personally awarded the title of Major General by current Chinese President Xi Jinping. She is also believed to be a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference since 2018.
While not much was known about Wei prior to her appointment, in an interview with the PLA Daily in early February, she predicted that the virus threat would diminish in the coming days, but warned that it could very well worsen after. Some reports have stated that the laboratory Wei is currently heading at the Wuhan Institute of Virology is designated as P4 – the highest category in bio-safety.
Among the numerous unverified claims circulating in the online informational eco-system was a news report from The Washington Times that quoted a former Israeli military intelligence officer. The officer had claimed that the laboratory at the institute was where the virus first originated from. However, his claims were quickly shot down by Shi Zhengli, director at the Wuhan Institute of Virology when she said, “I, Shi Zhengli, use my life to guarantee, the virus has no relation with the lab.”