China Unable to accept the World Health Organization’s plan for the second phase of the origin study Coronavirus disease, A senior Chinese health official said on Thursday.
Zeng Yixin, deputy minister of the National Health Commission, said he was “shocked” by the call for further investigation of the origin of the pandemic, especially the theory that the virus may have leaked from a Chinese laboratory.
He sees the laboratory leak theory as a rumor that runs counter to common sense and science.
“It is impossible for us to accept such an origin tracking plan,” he said, a press conference to address the origin of COVID-19.
Finding the origin of the virus has become a diplomatic issue, deteriorating China’s relations with the United States and many of its allies. The United States and other countries say that China is not transparent about what happened in the early stages of the pandemic. China accuses critics of politicizing an issue that should be left to scientists.
WHO Director-General Tan Desai admitted last week that it is too early to rule out a potential link between the pandemic and the Chinese government’s laboratory leak in Wuhan, which first detected the disease at the end of 2019.
Tan Desai said that he hopes to strengthen cooperation and obtain data from China, adding that obtaining raw data is a challenge for the international expert group that went to China this year to investigate the cause of the epidemic.
He also said that the theory that the coronavirus might be leaked from the Wuhan laboratory of the Chinese government was “prematurely” ruled out.
“I am a laboratory technician myself, I am an immunologist, I have worked in the laboratory, and laboratory accidents have occurred from time to time,” Tedros said.
Tedros’ words were responded to by German Health Minister Jens Span, who urged Chinese officials to allow investigations into the origin of the virus to continue.
It has been said that the Wuhan laboratory does not have a virus that can directly infect humans.
He pointed out that the international expert group coordinated by WHO, who visited the laboratory earlier this year, concluded that the possibility of laboratory leaks is small.
The team said that the virus is most likely to be transmitted from animals to humans. It is speculated that it originated from bats and may have spread it to pangolins, which are traditionally sold as delicacies in Chinese vegetable markets.
The highly politicized debate centers on whether laboratory leaks are so unlikely that the theory should be excluded, or whether it is worthy of further research.
Experts believe that the World Health Organization is not capable of exploring the origin of COVID-19
Mr. Zeng also stated that reports that staff and graduate students of Wuhan Institute of Virology were infected with the virus and might spread it to others are untrue.
He said that China “always supports scientific virus tracking” and hopes to see this spread to many countries and regions around the world.
“However, we are opposed to politicizing the tracing work,” Zeng said.
It has been stated that the second phase of virus tracking should be based on the conclusions of the first phase after “full discussion and consultation by member states.”
China often tries to evade allegations that the pandemic originated in Wuhan, and it spread because of early bureaucratic errors and attempts to cover it up.
A government spokesperson called for investigations into whether it might have been produced in a US military laboratory. This theory is not widespread in the scientific community.
China has largely put an end to the local spread of the virus through lockdowns, concealment requirements, and distribution of more than 1 billion doses of vaccine.
Only 12 new local cases were reported on Thursday, and the number of deaths from the virus in China remained unchanged at 4,636.
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