Australia announces the disappearance of 3 dangerous infectious viruses from a laboratory, a state of panic and the declaration of a state of emergency

The Queensland government in Australia has launched an investigation into a major security breach after vials containing infectious viruses disappeared from a virology lab. The incident has raised concerns because the missing viruses could be as dangerous as some have described them, prompting authorities to launch investigations to determine how the disappearance occurred and where the viruses went.

The case of the missing viruses brings to mind the coronavirus, which some believe leaked in similar ways and then spread, causing a global pandemic.

The disappearance of three viruses from a lab in Australia was just passing news, had it not been for the fact that humanity as a whole has not suffered from news like it for more than a year, when the coronavirus spread from one country to another, leaving thousands of victims.

Returning to the three Australian viruses that disappeared, authorities have launched an investigation into the disappearance of 323 samples of three deadly viruses, “Hendra, Leesa and Hanta”, from the state-run virology lab in Queensland.

“The concern is how these samples were transported,” said Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls. “Were they removed from secure storage? Or were they destroyed without documentation? There is no indication that the samples were taken or stolen from the laboratory.”

The virus disappearance from the laboratory occurred about three years ago after a freezer broke down, but the government only recently learned of the incident and launched an investigation into it, describing it as a major breach of biosecurity protocol.

John Gerrard, an infectious disease expert and Queensland’s chief health officer, said: “It is important to note that virus samples degrade very quickly outside of a low-temperature freezer and become non-infectious.”

Hendra virus is an animal virus that can be transmitted to humans. It broke out in 1994 at a racing stable in the suburb of Hendra, killing a trainer and 13 horses. It has since spread across Australia, killing several people and some animals.

As for “Lisa”, it is a virus similar to rabies and is a fatal disease, while no human cases of infection with the “Hanta” virus have been recorded.