BEIJING: China rejected on Thursday a World Well being Group (WHO) plan for a second section of an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus, which incorporates the speculation it may have escaped from a Chinese language laboratory, a high well being official mentioned.
The WHO this month proposed a second section of research into the origins of the coronavirus in China, together with audits of laboratories and markets within the metropolis of Wuhan, calling for transparency from authorities.
“We is not going to settle for such an origins-tracing plan because it, in some points, disregards frequent sense and defies science,” Zeng Yixin, vice minister of the Nationwide Well being Fee (NHC), advised reporters.
Zeng mentioned he was stunned when he first learn the WHO plan as a result of it lists the speculation {that a} Chinese language violation of laboratory protocols had triggered the virus to leak throughout analysis.
“We hope the WHO would significantly overview the concerns and strategies made by Chinese language consultants and actually deal with the origin tracing of the COVID-19 virus as a scientific matter, and eliminate political interference,” Zeng mentioned.
China opposed politicising the examine, he mentioned.
The origin of the virus stays contested amongst consultants.
The primary identified instances emerged within the central Chinese language metropolis of Wuhan in December 2019. The virus was believed to have jumped to people from animals being offered for meals at a metropolis market.
In Could, US President Joe Biden ordered aides to seek out solutions to questions over the origin saying that US intelligence businesses had been pursuing rival theories probably together with the potential for a laboratory accident in China.
Zeng, together with different officers and Chinese language consultants on the information convention, urged the WHO to develop origin-tracing efforts past China to different nations.
“We imagine a lab leak is extraordinarily unlikely and it’s not obligatory to speculate extra vitality and efforts on this regard,” mentioned Liang Wannian, the Chinese language crew chief on the WHO joint professional crew.
Nonetheless, Liang mentioned the lab leak speculation couldn’t be fully discounted however prompt that if proof warranted, different nations may look into the chance it leaked from their labs.