China denies WHO new search for source of COVID-19 on its territory

Beijing does not agree with the plan proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the second stage of studying the origin of COVID-19 in China, said Zeng Yixin, deputy head of the State Health Committee of the People’s Republic of China. According to him, this proposal contains “language that does not respect science.” Zeng Yixin added that Beijing is strongly opposed to the politicization of research into the origins of the virus, and the second phase of the trial should be based on the conclusions drawn after the first. transfers AP.

Zeng Yixin called the hypothesis of a virus leak from the laboratory “a rumor that runs counter to common sense.” writes “Russian newspaper”. He also considers false reports that employees of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, at an early stage of the spread of the disease, contracted the coronavirus and could transmit it to others.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology was not involved in the outbreak, the director of the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, a researcher at the Yuan Zhiming Institute, also said on Thursday. “Until December 31, 2019, the Wuhan Institute of Virology had not studied or encountered COVID-19. The Wuhan Institute of Virology has never synthesized, created or leaked COVID-19. Thirdly, not a single employee or student of the institute has so far been infected with COVID-19, ”he said at a briefing.

The director of the laboratory stressed that there is no evidence to support the artificial origin of the virus or its leak from the laboratory. “There is a consensus among scientists that COVID-19 is of natural origin. The experts released a statement saying that at the moment there is no evidence that could support the theory of the artificial origin of COVID-19 or its leak from the laboratory, ”concluded Yuan Zhiming. His quotes RIA Novosti.

In May, US President Joe Biden NSinstructed the American intelligence agencies to “redouble efforts” in finding the source of the coronavirus and report the results within 90 days, transfers Interfax. The New York Times, referring to high-ranking officials of the US administration, wrote that American intelligence has at its disposal not yet investigated data related to the source of the coronavirus pandemic, of which the White House was informed.

WHO chief Tedros Adan Ghebreyesus admitted in June that a potential link between the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and a virus leak from a Chinese laboratory had been ruled out too early. “I myself was a laboratory assistant, I am an immunologist, and I worked in a laboratory, and incidents occur in the laboratory,” said Tedros Ghebreyesus.

He was supported by German Health Minister Jens Spahn, who called on Chinese officials to allow further investigations into the origin of the virus.

A WHO expert group previously visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology. A visit report concluded that a virus leak from the institute’s laboratory was “highly unlikely”. The UK and the US were skeptical about this, saying China had deliberately denied experts access to data and samples. In addition, the PRC did not immediately allow WHO experts to conduct research on its territory.

China rejects the possibility of a “leak” of coronavirus from the laboratory, calling the desire of the United States and other countries to discover the source of the coronavirus in Chinese territory politicized. At the same time, Beijing is not against politicizing this issue if the direction of the search is changed. Chinese authorities have repeatedly stated that the coronavirus could have spread from a US military laboratory.

At present, the PRC, according to official data, manages to effectively fight the spread of a new disease on its territory. This is facilitated by stringent quarantine measures, the requirement to wear masks and the use of more than 1 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine. On Thursday, only 12 new cases were reported, and the death toll from coronavirus in China is not increasing at 4,636.