MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. A hybrid version of coronavirus, which fuses an Omicron version with a virus of the Wuhan strain, was developed by researchers at Boston University in October, Chief of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov said at a briefing on Saturday ahead of the Ninth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).

"In October, Boston University developed a chimeric coronavirus based on the Omicron variant and the original 'Wuhan' strain. The hybrid virus developed by the Americans killed 80% of the infected lab animals causing atypical neurological symptoms and significant lung injury," Kirillov said.

The US Department of Health and Human Services has ruled to investigate the activities of the university management. Nevertheless, according to Kirillov, the ‘Boston experiment’ shows that the United States lacks the government control over the genetic engineering and synthetic biology research.

"Despite high biological risks, the research was conducted with US government funds, but without proper authorization by the national biosafety and biosecurity watchdog," he said.