A recent report obtained by the Daily Mail has caused alarm among some scientists, revealing details of a controversial study conducted by Chinese researchers. The study reportedly involved the creation of a coronavirus strain with an alarming 100% kill rate in mice.

The newly developed virus, dubbed GX_P2V, is a mutated version of a pangolin coronavirus discovered in 2019, prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report claims that Beijing-based scientists, allegedly linked to China’s military, cloned the virus and stored it in a lab.

While the exact date of the study remains undisclosed, researchers involved suggest that the virus may have undergone a “virulence-enhancing mutation” during its storage in the lab, contributing to its lethal potency. They further noted that “severe brain infection during the later stages of infection may be the key cause of death in these mice,” according to the Daily Mail report.

The study itself raised eyebrows due to the use of “humanized” mice, genetically modified to resemble humans in an attempt to predict the virus’s potential impact on our species. Each infected mouse in the study succumbed to the virus within just eight days, prompting criticism from experts.

Dr. Francis Balloux, an infectious disease expert at University College London, took to X, formerly Twitter, to label the study as “terrible” and “scientifically totally pointless.” He expressed concerns about the research’s potential risks, stating that he could see “nothing of vague interest that could be learned from force-infecting a weird breed of humanized mice with a random virus.”

Professor Richard Ebright, a chemistry expert at Rutgers University, echoed Dr. Balloux’s concerns, highlighting the lack of transparency surrounding the study’s biosafety protocols. “The absence of this information raises the concerning possibility that part or all of this research…recklessly was performed without the minimal biosafety containment and practices essential for research with potential pandemic pathogens,” he told the Daily Mail.

The controversy surrounding this study underscores the ongoing debate about the ethics and safety of coronavirus research, particularly in light of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. As investigations into the origins of the COVID-19 virus continue, concerns about potential biosecurity lapses and the development of potentially dangerous new strains remain at the forefront of scientific discourse.