World Health Organisation (WHO) has said there is no evidence that the coronavirus that has infected more than two million people globally was made in a laboratory, China’s foreign ministry declares.
The ministry’s spokesman, Zhao Lijian made the remark in response to various claims that coronavirus was created in a laboratory in the central Chinese city of Wuhan where the epidemic first emerged in late 2019.
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As far back as February, the Chinese state-backed Wuhan Institute of Virology dismissed rumours that the virus may have been artificially synthesised at one of its laboratories or perhaps escaped from such a facility.
On his part, United States President, Donald Trump on Wednesday said his government is trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from a lab in Wuhan.
At a White House news conference Trump was asked about the reports of the virus escaping from the Wuhan lab, and he said he was aware of them and that the U.S is doing a very thorough examination of the whole happening.
The U.S President added that;
The U.S. has more cases because we do more reporting. Do you really believe those numbers in this vast country called China, and that they have a certain number of cases and a certain number of deaths; does anybody really believe that?
Trump and other officials have expressed deep scepticism of China’s officially declared death toll from the virus of around 3,000 people when the U.S. has a death toll of more than 20,000 and rising.
United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, in a Fox News Channel interview after Trump’s news conference, confirmed Trump’s claim, saying;
We know this virus originated in Wuhan and that the Institute of Virology is only a handful of miles away from the wet market. We really need the Chinese government to open up and help explain exactly how this virus spread.
He added that;
The Chinese government needs to come clean. The broad scientific consensus holds that SARS-CoV-2, the virus’ official name, originated in bats.
Also, in a report by Fox News on Wednesday, it is asserted that the virus originated in a Wuhan laboratory not as a bioweapon widely claimed, but as part of China’s effort to demonstrate that its efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal to or greater than the capabilities of the U.S.
This report and others have suggested the Coronavirus was released from Wuhan lab where virology experiments take place, leading to someone getting infected and appearing at a nearby market, where the virus began to spread.
On the contrary, Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had on Tuesday stated that U.S. intelligence indicates that the coronavirus likely occurred naturally, as opposed to being created in a laboratory in China.
Nevertheless, there remains no certainty of either claim, as China continues to keep silent regarding the various conspiracy theories and speculations circulating the media space.
