The federal government has slapped a punitive 10-year ban on China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, barring it from getting any money through the Health and Human Services Department.

Wuhan has been at the center of speculation about the origins of the coronavirus and was found to have performed risky research using U.S. taxpayer money.

HHS gave the lab a chance to explain itself but it ignored the inquiries, so HHS this week finalized the ban, which is more than three times as long as the usual punishment.

Republicans said it was about time.

“After years of conducting dangerous gain-of-function research at inadequate biosafety levels, cutting off all American taxpayer dollars from the WIV is an essential and obvious step in the right direction,” said Rep. Brad Wenstrup, chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

He said U.S. officials knew about the risky research before the COVID-19 outbreak but didn’t take the right steps.

The virus is believed to have sprung from China in 2019, though its exact origins are still debated.

One theory is that the virus emerged from natural exposure to an animal. The other major explanation centers on the lab, which was conducting research on coronaviruses using U.S. money.

Under the terms of the HHS grant, the level of virus activity was not supposed to exceed a certain level. U.S. officials concluded that the research may have crossed the line.

“WIV’s refusal to acknowledge or provide any information regarding this violation to the United States Government, in accordance with the terms of the grant, constitutes an aggravating factor,” the U.S. official wrote in the official debarment notice.

The standard penalty for violating grant terms is a three-year bar, but HHS said this case deserved the 10-year ban.

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.