Number of labs researching dangerous viruses rising worldwide, with US leading

The world saw how the coronavirus upended life and human existence. Many debates broke out across the globe at the time. Some held that the coronavirus was a man-made crisis, others that it was natural. China was also accused of deliberately using the virus to hold back the world's progress.

Experts say the next war will be a biological one. It is repeatedly claimed that for this reason many countries are quietly researching the subject and preparing on their own. Meanwhile, the number of high-security labs researching deadly and fast-spreading pathogens is rising worldwide.

Labs at the BSL-3 and BSL-4 levels, in particular, carry out research on extremely dangerous pathogens and work on testing, vaccines and treatment. According to a recent study, the number of such labs has grown worldwide, and 110 of them are at the BSL-4 level. These labs have the strictest biosafety arrangements.

According to available data, the United States has 17 BSL-4 labs, operational and under construction combined. That makes it the leader in labs with the highest biosafety level. The research says Britain comes next, with 13 BSL-4 labs.

High-security labs are expanding faster in Asia too, with new facilities being built for research on dangerous pathogens. China opened the country's first BSL-4 lab centre in Wuhan in 2015. It then planned to expand its network of high-security biolabs. To avoid falling behind Western countries in this research, China has invested heavily in it.

The study found 3,515 BSL-3 labs worldwide. About half of them are said to be in the United States.

However, it is difficult to give the exact number of such labs worldwide, because there is no single global official register of BSL-3 and BSL-4 facilities. For this reason, figures in different reports vary.