Covid: China hits back as US revisits Wuhan lab-leak theory

[superadmin]

China has denounced US efforts to further investigate whether Covid-19 came from a Chinese lab.

US President Joe Biden has said he expects to release the results of an intelligence report on the origins of the virus.

China's foreign ministry accused the US of "political manipulation and blame shifting".

It has rejected any link between Covid-19 and a virus research lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Covid-19 was first detected in Wuhan in late 2019. Since then, more than 168 million cases have been confirmed worldwide and about 3.5 million deaths reported.


Chinese officials linked early Covid cases to a seafood market in Wuhan, leading scientists to theorise that the virus had first passed to humans from animals.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it is "extremely unlikely" that the virus spread from a lab leak, following a visit to Wuhan earlier this year to investigate the origins of the coronavirus outbreak.

WHO virologist Marion Koopmans, who was part of that field visit, told the BBC that if the US authorities had any information they should share it.


- More -