Russia was accused Thursday of trying to steal coronavirus vaccine research as the pandemic surged across the world and more than 125 million people in India were put under a new lockdown.
The virus has killed more than 584,000 people, infected nearly 13.6 million and crippled the global economy since emerging late last year, and the world’s hopes have turned to a vaccine to end the onslaught.
In the latest positive sign, British media reported on Thursday that an Oxford University trial had shown its prototype vaccine generated an immune response against the virus.
But hours later, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre said a hacking group called APT29 had targeted British labs conducting vaccine research to “steal valuable intellectual property”.
The agency said it was “almost certain (95%+) that APT29 are part of the Russian Intelligence Services” and its targeting of researchers was “highly likely (80-90%)” to “collect information on COVID-19 vaccine research”.
It added that the United States and Canada, whose labs were also targeted, backed the agency’s assessment.
Moscow denied any involvement, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying: “Russia has nothing to do with these attempts.”
The dispute came as the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution stressing the importance of “equitable and unhindered access” to diagnostics, treatments and vaccines — and that any vaccine should be considered a “global public good”.
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