Beijing on Friday criticized the theory that the covid-19 pandemic may have originated in a Chinese laboratory as a “politically motivated lie”, after the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended a thorough investigation.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian also rejected accusations that China did not fully cooperate with WHO investigators who traveled to the country last year. And he said that China is receptive to science-based research, but rejects any political manipulation.
COVID-19. WHO accuses China of not making data available to determine the origin of the virus
He also reiterated the calls to investigate the “laboratories [norte-americanos] highly suspicious, such as Fort Detrick and the University of North Carolina”, where China suggested, without evidence, that the United States was developing the new coronavirus, as a biological weapon.
“The theory that the [coronavírus] Leaking from a lab is a complete lie, invented by anti-China forces for political purposes, which has nothing to do with science,” Zhao told a news conference.
The spokesman said that China has made important contributions to the investigation of the origin of the virus, sharing most of the data and results of its own investigations.
The WHO says that the theory about the laboratory accident that would have led to the Covid-19 pandemic should be investigated
This “fully reflects China’s open, transparent and responsible attitude, as well as its support for the WHO’s work,” he said.
The WHO recommended this Thursday an in-depth investigation into the hypothesis that covid-19 had its origin in a laboratory accident, a year after having considered the possibility as “extremely unlikely”.
This stance marks a possible revision of the UN agency’s initial assessment of the origins of the pandemic and comes after critics accused the WHO of too quickly dismissing or underestimating the theory that the virus may have originated. at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. the city in central China where the first cases of covid-19 were diagnosed, at the end of 2019.
The WHO expert group said “key data” was still missing to determine how the covid-19 pandemic started.
The scientists said they “will remain open to whatever scientific evidence becomes available in the future to allow for a comprehensive test of all reasonable hypotheses.”
And they pointed out that because lab accidents in the past have triggered some outbreaks, the lab theory, which has been highly politicized, cannot be ruled out.
Source: Observadora
