ORF8 only exists in sarbecovs. ORF8 of SARS-1 and SARS-CoV-2 share just 20% nucleotide identity, compared to 79% average across the genome. But important features defining the protein structure are conserved e.g. cysteine residues forming internal disulfide bonds. 
@loofymectin asked me what type of Covid vaccine he made, tbh I hadn't looked into it, being more interested in origins.
In 2005-06 while hunting for SARS-like bat coronaviruses in rural Hong Kong, scientists from HKU discovered two new coronaviruses HKU4 and HKU5. These are the first known MERS-like viruses (or merbecovs), although MERS itself was unknown at the time. 
The BANAL viruses were the result of an expedition to bat caves in Laos in July 2020. Pasteur had been part of a group exploring the same caves 3 years earlier, but they never sequenced the >500 bat samples they collected. Pasteur's Marc Eloit didn't respond when I asked why not. 
@Dali_Yang has recently written a book documenting the early days of the pandemic. There was over a month between the earliest cases and any attempt to stem transmission. With prompt action a pandemic could have been averted.
In China his death became a focal point of demands for more transparency. The CCP responded by blaming local police.
One of my FOI's managed to turn up this email which I'm guessing survived deliberate deletion only by accident. This is CSIRO's explanation of what was happening: 
The unusual features are:
Everyone is aware of the AMMS and their interest in offensive bioweapons - but western scientists (e.g. Eddie Holmes) still promote their research as evidence for a natural origin of SARS and SARS-CoV-2.
The official story is that a biopharmaceutical factory was preparing animal vaccines against Brucella and used expired disinfectants and sanitizers which failed to sterilize waste gas. 
The language in DEFUSE relating to the FCS is ambiguous, difficult to parse and interpret without relevant background. But some gaps can be filled by careful reading of the references provided.
My preferred explanation for the origin is that the PLA is responsible, and their main (but certainly not the only) bridge to the US were husband/wife team Lanying Du and mysteriously deceased AMMS officer Yusen Zhou. 
The US IC have rejected a bioweapon origin according to ODNI. But they don't seem to have investigated independently. The ODNI report only references a vitriolic public exchange between intransigent zoonosis proponents, and a dissident scientist who fled HK early in the pandemic. 
While there is much interaction between these groups and WIV was likely involved in either case, EcoHealth may prove to be a bit player - useful idiots rather than central to the scheme.
@samhusseini and @bioSRP recently revived interest in the possibility of a lab leak origin. Though they don't claim dispositive proof, they point out that evidence supporting a natural origin is fragile, and a plausible case for a lab leak can be made.
Although previous studies the group did (including a collaboration with WIV) did not show this lethality, they now suggest that mutations gained through passaging in cell culture may have resulted in a far more lethal variant. 
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