US Government Continues Funding for Controversial Coronavirus Research

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has renewed its grant to EcoHealth Alliance, a non-profit organization that researches bat coronaviruses and is at the center of the Covid lab leak theory. The grant, funded by US taxpayers, will provide $2.3 million over the next four years, but EcoHealth has agreed not to subcontract work to China, collect new virus samples from the wild, or carry out 'gain of function' research. The renewal has drawn criticism from experts who say it "betrays the trust of US taxpayers."