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China despises WHO's plan for further COVID origins study

“It is impossible for us to accept such an origin-tracing plan,” he said at a news conference called to address the Covid-19 origins issue.

China despises WHO's plan for further COVID origins study-dnm
Author
Beijing, First Published Jul 22, 2021, 11:38 AM IST

China cannot accept the World Health Organization’s plan for the second phase of a study into the origins of Covid-19, a senior Chinese health official said Thursday.

National Health Commission Vice Minister Zeng Yixin dismissed the lab leak theory as a rumour running counter to common sense.

Zeng Yixin, said he was “rather taken aback” by the call for a further into the pandemic’s origins and specifically, the theory that the virus might have leaked from a Chinese lab.

The head of the WHO acknowledged last week that it was premature to rule out a potential link between the pandemic and a leak of the coronavirus from a Chinese lab. Zeng called the theory a rumour that goes against science.

“It is impossible for us to accept such an origin-tracing plan,” he said at a news conference called to address the Covid-19 origins issue.

The search for the origins of the virus has become a diplomatic issue that has worsened China’s relations with the US and many of its allies. The US and others say that China has not been transparent about what happened in the early days of the pandemic. China accuses critics of politicizing an issue that should be left to scientists.

The head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged last week that it was premature to rule out a potential link between the pandemic and a leak of the coronavirus from a Chinese lab.

said he hoped for better cooperation and access to data from China, adding that getting access to raw data had been a challenge for the international expert team that travelled to China this year to investigate the cause of the outbreak.

He also says there had been a “premature push” to rule out the theory that the coronavirus might have escaped from a Chinese government lab in Wuhan.

“I was a lab technician myself, I’m an immunologist, and I have worked in the lab, and lab accidents happen,” Tedros said.

NOTE: Asianet News humbly requests everyone to wear masks, sanitize, maintain social distancing and get vaccinated as soon as eligible. Together we can and will break the chain #ANCares #IndiaFightsCorona

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