'If labs are to be probed, then start with US' Fort Detrick': China to WHO on COVID origin

Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Monday said that if labs are to be investigated, then the World Health Organisation should go to Fort Detrick. 

Amid the ongoing investigation into the origin of the Coronavirus pandemic, Chine has hit back at the United States. Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Monday said that if labs are to be investigated, then the World Health Organisation should go to Fort Detrick. 

Taking to Twitter, he wrote: "If labs are to be investigated, then the WHO experts should go to Fort Detrick. The US should act transparently & responsibly as soon as possible and invite WHO experts for an inquiry into the Fort Detrick lab. Only in this way can truth be revealed to the world."

It came in response to calls for a second round of investigation in coronavirus origin. For the unversed, Fort Detrick is a military base located in Frederick, Maryland. 

Earlier, the WHO said that a second stage of the investigation should include audits of Chinese labs and research institutions. Reacting to the same, China's vice health minister Zeng Yixin said he was "extremely surprised" by the plan. Beijing has repeatedly insisted that a leak from one of its laboratories would have been "extremely unlikely", citing the conclusion reached by a joint WHO-Chinese mission to Wuhan in January.