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Friday, March 29, 2024

China denies accusations COVID-19 was made in a lab

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China denies accusations COVID-19 was made in a lab
China denies accusations COVID-19 was made in a lab

China's foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Thursday the World Health Organization has said there is no evidence that the coronavirus originated in a lab in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the epidemic first emerged in late 2019.

Chris Dignam reports.

China's foreign ministry on Thursday addressed accusations the coronavirus originated in a lab in Wuhan, where the disease first emerged, saying the World Health Organization has found no evidence that the virus - which has infected more than 2 million people globally - was made in a lab.

(SOUNDBITE) (English-dubbed Mandarin) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN ZHAO LIJIAN, SAYING: "China's position on the origin and means of transmission of the novel coronavirus is clear.

We always believe this is a scientific issue which should be studied by scientists and medical experts.

I would like to remind you, the head of WHO has repeatedly said there's no evidence that the coronavirus was made in a lab.

Many well-known medical experts in the world also believe that claims of the so-called laboratory leaks have no scientific basis." On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Beijing "needs to come clean" on what they know.

And at his daily news conference at the White House, President Donald Trump said the U.S. is looking into whether the virus came from a lab in Wuhan, but did not want to go into detail about it.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT JOHN ROBERTS, SAYING: "Multiple sources are telling Fox News that the United States government now has high confidence that while the coronavirus is a naturally occurring virus, it emanated from a virology lab in Wuhan.

Because it lacked safety protocols, an intern was infected who later infected her boyfriend, and went to the wet market in Wuhan where it began to spread.

Does that correspond with what you have heard from officials?" (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING: "Well, I don’t want to say that, John, but I will tell you, more and more we’re hearing the story and we’ll see.

When you say multiple sources, there’s a case where you can use the word sources.

But we’re doing a very thorough examination of this horrible situation that happened." The question of whether the virus came from a Chinese lab has been the subject of theories on the internet and has further strained ties between the United States and China, as the U.S. had already accused China of mishandling the outbreak... (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR ROBERT O'BRIEN, SAYING: "There's no way to confirm those numbers." ... and also questioned the accuracy of China's coronavirus death toll reported by Beijing.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING: "Their numbers seem to be a little bit on the light side, and I'm being nice when I say that."

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