2. A Question of Trust
28m
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Fever: The Hunt for Covid's Origin
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A team of top scientists ask where Covid came from. But can they trust data from China? As the new virus takes hold in Wuhan, the Chinese state downplays its infectiousness and punishes a doctor who sounded the alarm. It raises the question of trust in what China and its scientists say - a question soon at the heart of a brewing political storm over Covid’s origin. Western scientists offer a response to claims the virus could’ve leaked from a lab. But are they being given the full picture? Archive: CBS; The White House; NPR; Weibo; CGTN; Tom Cotton; CBS; MSNBC; Democracy Now!; CNN. Presenter: John Sudworth Series producer: Simon Maybin Editor: Richard Vadon Sound design and mix: James Beard Commissioning editor: Dan Clarke Science advice: Julian Siddle and Victoria Gill Extra production: Eva Artesona and Kathy Long Research support: Zisheng Xu and BBC Monitoring Production coordinators: Siobhan Reed, Helena Warwick-Cross, Sophie Hill, and Debbie Richford Theme and original music: Pete Cunningham, with trumpet by Joss Murray Radio 4 Editor of Editorial Standards: Roger Mahony Head of BBC News - Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
The episode 2. A Question of Trust from the podcast Fever: The Hunt for Covid's Origin has a duration of
28:58. It was first published
More episodes from Fever: The Hunt for Covid's Origin
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8. An Answer
Speculation that newly declassified US intelligence will contain smoking-gun evidence. Three years on from the start of the pandemic, the FBI - the US domestic intelligence agency - reveals it sees a lab leak in Wuhan as the most likely source of Covid. Weeks later, the US Congress passes a law requiring the country’s intelligence agencies to declassify information they have that potentially links the Wuhan Institute of Virology with Covid’s origin. What will it reveal? And, in our final episode (for now at least), what conclusions can we reach about that question that’s sparked so much controversy and acrimony: where did Covid come from? Archive: Fox News; C-SPAN. Presenter: John Sudworth Series producer: Simon Maybin Editor: Richard Vadon Sound design and mix: James Beard Commissioning editor: Dan Clarke Science advice: Julian Siddle and Victoria Gill Extra production: Eva Artesona and Kathy Long Research support: Zisheng Xu and BBC Monitoring Production coordinators: Siobhan Reed, Helena Warwick-Cross, Sophie Hill, and Debbie Richford Theme and original music: Pete Cunningham, with trumpet by Joss Murray Radio 4 Editor of Editorial Standards: Roger Mahony Head of BBC News - Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
7. The Suspicion Business
Mysterious deaths in Soviet Russia and what they might tell us about the origin of Covid. When US intelligence agencies blamed a spate of unexplained Russian deaths in 1979 on a leak from a bioweapons facility, the Soviet government responded angrily, saying the cause was natural. A top US scientist stepped in to find the truth - and was given anything but. Does pointing the finger of blame creative a disincentive for governments to cooperate more fully? Or should information from inside authoritarian states be treated with suspicion? A Chinese insider has a set of striking revelations and someone who dismissed conspiracy theories now has one of his own. Archive: CBS; The White House; C-SPAN; New Yorker; New York Times. Presenter: John Sudworth Series producer: Simon Maybin Editor: Richard Vadon Sound design and mix: James Beard Commissioning editor: Dan Clarke Science advice: Julian Siddle and Victoria Gill Extra production: Eva Artesona and Kathy Long Research support: Zisheng Xu and BBC Monitoring Production coordinators: Siobhan Reed, Helena Warwick-Cross, Sophie Hill, and Debbie Richford Theme and original music: Pete Cunningham, with trumpet by Joss Murray Radio 4 Editor of Editorial Standards: Roger Mahony Head of BBC News - Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
6. Back to the Market
What really went on in that Wuhan market - and the curious case of the raccoon dog. It’s the early hours of 31 December 2019 and a cleaning squad is moving through the narrow lanes of a large, covered market in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The Huanan Seafood Market has been linked to a number of cases of a mysterious new illness circulating in the city, suggesting that animals there might be the source. But the World Health Organization would later say there were no verified reports of live mammals for sale. So what’s the truth about the market? And why have raccoon dogs sparked yet another bitter scientific dispute? Presenter: John Sudworth Series producer: Simon Maybin Editor: Richard Vadon Sound design and mix: James Beard Commissioning editor: Dan Clarke Science advice: Julian Siddle and Victoria Gill Extra production: Eva Artesona and Kathy Long Research support: Zisheng Xu and BBC Monitoring Production coordinators: Siobhan Reed, Helena Warwick-Cross, Sophie Hill, and Debbie Richford Theme and original music: Pete Cunningham, with trumpet by Joss Murray Radio 4 Editor of Editorial Standards: Roger Mahony Head of BBC News - Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
5. Labs, Safety, and Risk
The lab leak theory goes mainstream. How safe are top-security laboratories? After the World Health Organization’s attempts to find the origin of Covid effectively rule out a lab leak, there’s a backlash. A new US president helps bring the lab leak theory into the mainstream. What are the dangers involved in the work being done in virology laboratories? How effective are their safety measures? And do the benefits of their work outweigh the risks? John visit’s a top biosafety lab to find out. Archive: CGTN; CBS; The White House; CNN; C-SPAN. Presenter: John Sudworth Series producer: Simon Maybin Editor: Richard Vadon Sound design and mix: James Beard Commissioning editor: Dan Clarke Science advice: Julian Siddle and Victoria Gill Extra production: Eva Artesona and Kathy Long Research support: Zisheng Xu and BBC Monitoring Production coordinators: Siobhan Reed, Helena Warwick-Cross, Sophie Hill, and Debbie Richford Theme and original music: Pete Cunningham, with trumpet by Joss Murray Radio 4 Editor of Editorial Standards: Roger Mahony Head of BBC News - Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon