LONDON: The US government has reportedly funded $3.7 million to the contoversial Chinese laboratory in Wuhan which undertook the coronavirus experiments on bats and other wild animals, claims media reports.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology is believed to have conducted coronavirus experiments on mammals captured 1,600 kms away in the caves of Yunnan, China, with the US money. The Wuhan Institute of Virology is one of the most advanced laboratories in China.

The Daily Mail reports claimed that Sequencing of the COVID-19 genome has traced it back to bats found in Yunnan caves but it was first thought to have transferred to humans at an animal market in Wuhan. The wet market in question is just 36 km away from Wuhan Institute of Virulogy.

According to reports, scientists in the Wuhan lab experimented on bats as part of a project funded by the US National Institutes of Health.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services responsible for biomedical and public health research. It continues to licence the Wuhan laboratory to receive American money for experiments.

The US government who funded the lab doing research on bats in Wuhan has added fuel to the conspiracy theory which suggests that that the Wuhan lab was the actual place of origin of the coronavirus pandemic, not the animal market.

Soon after this discovery US lawmakers, hit out at the US government for funding dangerous experiments at the Wuhan Insititute of Virology.

Speaking to media, US Congressman Matt Gaetz said, "I'm disgusted to learn that for years the US government has been funding dangerous and cruel animal experiments at the Wuhan Institute, which may have contributed to the global spread of coronavirus, and research at other labs in China that have virtually no oversight from US authorities."

The United States is one of the worst countries to have been hit by with highest number of cases as well as death across the world.

Also Read: COVID-19: Trump Halts US Funding Of WHO