---
title: "Chinese Authorities Are Testing Thousands of Blood Samples From Wuhan"
description: "Chinese authorities are about to test blood samples from Wuhan to investigate where and when the first COVID-19 outbreaks began."
date: "2021-10-13"
modified: "2021-10-13"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/chinese-authorities-testing-thousands-blood-samples-wuhan"
categories:
  - "Developments"
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "coronavirus"
  - "covid19"
  - "health"
  - "wuhan"
---

# Chinese Authorities Are Testing Thousands of Blood Samples From Wuhan

![Chinese authorities are about to test blood samples from Wuhan to investigate where and when the first COVID-19 outbreaks began.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/chinese-authorities-testing-blood-samples-wuhan.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Getty / Futurism\</em\>*

In coming weeks, Chinese authorities say they plan to run tests on thousands and thousands of blood samples from Wuhan, the original epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are up to 200,000 blood samples stored at the Wuhan Blood Center dating back to 2019, potentially giving officials access to a sort of real-time historical archive that could help reveal how the first coronavirus outbreaks began and spread, officials at China's National Health Commission [told *CNN*](<https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/12/asia/china-wuhan-blood-samples-covid-19-probe-intl-cmd/index.html>). The samples, which were previously identified as potentially being crucial evidence by the [World Health Organization's probe](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/who-investigators-found-pandemic-began>) into China, have not yet been tested or examined.

Why the wait? Chinese authorities say that they were waiting for the end of a two-year grace period during which the blood samples could have become evidence in any lawsuits related to their donors or the donations themselves, according to *CNN*. Now that we're almost at the [two-year anniversary](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/us-intelligence-warned-cataclysmic-coronavirus-november>) of the first COVID-19 cases, officials have started to prepare for the tests so that they can start as soon as possible.

"This provides the closest in the world we've seen of real-time samples to help us understand the timing of the outbreak event," Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow for global health Yanzhong Huang told *CNN*.

If researchers are lucky, the blood samples will show when antibodies against the coronavirus first started to appear, which would serve as a proxy for when and where the pandemic began. But the biggest question, unfortunately, is whether Chinese authorities will handle the research with their [usual level of secrecy](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/china-denies-access-who-team-investigating-covid-origin>) — or if transparent reports will make it to the outside world.

The blood "absolutely will contain vital clues," Columbia University epidemiologist Maureen Miller told *CNN*, but that won't make a difference if no one else gets to access them.

"No one will believe any results that China reports unless there are qualified observers at the very least," she added.

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)