A Chinese scientist partially funded by U.S. grants who was working in Wuhan was one of three researchers who fell sick with a mystery illness early on in the coronavirus pandemic, a former U.S. official confirmed Tuesday. 

Ben Hu had been working at the Wuhan Institute of Virology when he and the other two scientists were sickened with an unspecified illness in late 2019, potentially lending credibility to the theory that the pandemic could have originated from a lab leak rather than from a wild animal market in Wuhan. 

Hu had been researching coronaviruses at the lab when he became sick with a disease that mirrored the symptoms of COVID-19, U.S. intelligence reports said, the Wall Street Journal first reported. 

Some of Hu’s projects were funded by U.S. grants, a Freedom of Information Act by the nonprofit White Coat Waste Project revealed, according to the Journal.

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Between 2014 and 2019, $1.4 million was granted to the lab in Wuhan by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Institutes of Health, the Government Accountability Office reportedly said in a report last week, The grants ended in 2019.

Fox News Digital has reached out to NIH and USAID. 

Hu’s projects included in the funding were one studying animal viruses that could transfer to humans and cause a pandemic and one researching bat coronaviruses. 

Robert Kadlec, a former Health and Human Services Department official, told the Journal that Hu and the other two scientists "published on SARS-related coronavirus experiments done at inappropriately low biosafety settings that could have resulted in a laboratory infection." 

Along with Hu, the other scientists were identified as Yu Ping and Yan Zhu. All three of the researchers lived. 

Ping had written a report on coronaviruses found in bats prior to becoming ill, the Journal reported. 

The researchers were first identified in a Substack article last week, citing U.S. government sources, and referring to the scientists among "patients zero." 

The Substack article said the revelation "strengthens the case that the SARS-CoV-2 virus accidentally escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology." 

A Wuhan man who fell ill on Dec. 8, 2019, was previously identified by Chinese authorities as the first official case. Hu and the other two scientists became sick in November. 

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From the beginning of the pandemic, China has lacked transparency about the virus. 

"The lack of data disclosure is simply inexcusable," Maria Van Kirkhove, an epidemiologist with the World Health Organization, wrote in an April op-ed for the journal Science. "The longer it takes to understand the origins of the pandemic, the harder it becomes to answer the question, and the more unsafe the world becomes."

President Biden signed a law in March that could allow more information on the pandemic and its origins to be declassified – as early as this week. 

Neither experts nor the U.S. government is sure whether the pandemic originated from a lab leak or not. 

The Wuhan Institute of Virology told the Journal it had nothing new to say. Fox News Digital has reached out for comment. 

Kansas Sen. Roger Mashall, a Republican, said the revelations show a need for greater scrutiny over U.S. grants.

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"Not only should we better monitor the scientists and types of research we support but we must reform the U.S. global research grant administration to ensure oversight, transparency, and accountability," he said, according to the Journal. 

Fox News' Rich Edson contributed to this report

Helen Mirren put all of her confidence in "Yellowstone" creator, Taylor Sheridan.

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Mirren revealed why she said yes to playing Cara Dutton in the prequel series before ever seeing a script.

"He [Sheridan] didn't describe the character particularly, he didn't describe the journey of the character. It was a jump into the unknown, absolutely," Mirren told the outlet. "I think both of us [Harrison Ford] had great faith in Taylor's work that we'd seen and enjoyed so much. He's an absolutely extraordinary writer and an extraordinary person on the sort of scene of storytelling." 

Mirren continued, "So it wasn't really anything to do with, 'she's gonna be this person and then that's gonna happen.' I thought it was very important that he got to know who I was. So we just had a meeting like that, and it was wonderful. It was very revelatory for me. It was at his home, which was extraordinary. Meeting his wife and being in his environment, I found that to be a very beautiful environment."

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Mirren then revealed the one thing that Sheridan did pitch to her in their meeting. "'This is going to be a long movie. Basically, we're gonna tell one story. I don't know how many episodes we'll take to tell that story, but it's going, basically going to be one story,'" Sheridan said, according to Mirren. "And I loved the idea of that as well."

The actress, 77, addressed the timeline on season two now that there is a writers strike taking over Los Angeles. Mirren praised Sheridan on his writing skills and believes he could have written most of the second season before the strike kicked off.

"Taylor being the extraordinary powerhouse that he is of writing, it's almost as if he writes in his sleep or something. But I have to say, when the scripts arrive, they are perfect," she said. "You don't want to change a word. You don't. No scene is too long. No scene is too short. They're beautifully constructed. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he'd already written some before the strike. If he has, then we can start work. But if that’s not the case, I guess we'll have to put it off for a while."

Mirren clarified that she has not yet seen a script for season two. "I suspect we'll be jumping in not knowing what's happening," she said. 

"I have to say I love that process. I don't particularly like prepping, you know? I love cold reading something. As an actor, your very first response to something, where it’s just pure instinct and pure invention—that moment of pure invention, that I love. I'd be perfectly happy to get the scripts the night before we shoot them, and just jump in and do it," Mirren continued.

Mirren stars alongside Harrison Ford who portrays Jacob Dutton in "1923." The pair first worked together in 1986 on "The Mosquito Coast" and noted that she "loved" working with him nearly 40 years ago, but they "were very different people then."

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"A lot has happened to both of us since those days, but I just felt utterly at ease with him. I didn't have any real reason to because, you know, he's ‘Harrison F-king Ford,’" Mirren explained. 

"There was every reason for me to feel awkward and like, 'oh God, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing here.' But I felt utterly at ease with him. Maybe it’s in the nature of the characters that we are playing, I don't know. But I think it was down to Harrison actually, and how he's developed into the person that he's developed into," she concluded.