Chinese scientists are planning “ominous” experiments similar to those that could have triggered the Covid pandemic, experts have warned.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) published new research this month announcing it had found a bat coronavirus that can enter human cells, similar to a Covid-19 infection.

The paper concludes with calls for “further investigation” into strains that have more infectious spike proteins, as well as testing in human transgenic mice.

The first known Covid cases emerged just eight miles from WIV, which was known to be collecting and manipulating coronaviruses.

The institute was stripped of US funding for carrying out dangerous experiments ahead of the outbreak, and the US select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic concluded in December that the disease “most likely” leaked from a Wuhan lab.

Experts warned that the latest experiments were being carried out below recommended biosafety levels, and that future proposals were alarmingly similar to those which could have sparked the pandemic.

‘Ominous experiments’

Dr Alina Chan, a biosecurity expert and co-author of Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19, said: “The paper ends on an ominous note – describing a set of future experiments similar to what might’ve led to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“They’re going to test more of such viruses with different-looking spike proteins. They’re going to study cleavage sites and how they activate the spike in these viruses.

“They’re going to study the viruses’ ability to cause disease in humanised mice.”

She added: “After what we experienced with Covid-19, I believe there is no biosafety level adequate for such experiments in the city of Wuhan. If such work has to be done, it should be done at a biosafety level 4 far away from any city centre.”

Some scientists continue to assert that Covid-19 jumped from an animal, but despite five years of searching, a natural origin has never been discovered.

Before the pandemic, WIV had collected more than 220 Sars-related coronaviruses, at least 100 of which were never made public.

Members of staff were also photographed wearing inadequate levels of personal protective equipment while handling bats.

US intelligence also discovered that three researchers at WIV had sought treatment at a hospital after falling ill with Covid-like symptoms in Nov 2019.