After a World Health Organization report suggested that additional research is needed into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese government dismissed the hypothesis that the novel coronavirus developed from a laboratory accident, labelling it a political attack.
During a press conference on Friday, June 10, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian dubbed the lab leak claim “a falsehood concocted by anti-China elements for political motives.”
He also fought back against accusations that China tried to hide the virus’s initial breakout; and hasn’t cooperated with investigators.
According to Zhao, China has “provided the most data and research results” of any country; when it comes to the origin of the new coronavirus.
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WHO experts found that the virus crossed over from a laboratory into the human population; after a 12-day visit to China in early 2021 to explore the origins of the COVID-19 epidemic in Wuhan.
However, a WHO advisory group stated in a report released Thursday that “critical pieces of data” are still missing to give a clear picture of how the pandemic started.
According to the 43-page study, the committee will “remain open to any and all scientific information that becomes available in the future in order to allow for complete testing of all credible theories.”
Some critics have accused the WHO of being too subservient to China and dismissive of the lab leak scenario in its previous assessment.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the United Nations agency, later admitted that there had been a “premature push” to rule out the idea.
Zhao, on the other hand, maintained China’s unfounded claims that the coronavirus came from bioweapons research at American labs on Friday.
Zhao said:
Since the advisory group report proposes to investigate the national biological laboratories with early cases around the world, the next stage should be the investigation of highly suspicious laboratories such as Fort Detrick in the United States and the University of North Carolina.
He also called on the WHO to probe “unexplained childhood hepatitis and monkeypox outbreaks” in the United States, Britain, and Canada.
