China ‘shocked’ by WHO plan to study origins of COVID-19

BEIJING (AP) – China cannot agree to 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 on Thursday.

Zeng Yixin, deputy minister of the National Health Commission, said he was shocked by the plan and more specifically by the theory that the virus could have leaked from a Chinese laboratory.

He dismissed the theory as a rumor that runs counter to common sense and science.

“It is impossible for us to accept such an original research plan,” he said at a press conference called to address the problem of the origins of COVID-19.

Tracing the origins of the virus has become a diplomatic issue that has worsened China’s relations with the United States and many of its allies. The United States and others say China was not transparent about what happened at the start of the pandemic. China accuses critics of politicizing an issue that should be left to scientists.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the WHO, admitted last week that it was premature to rule out a potential link between the pandemic and a leak from a Chinese government laboratory in Wuhan, the city where the disease has spread. was detected for the first time at the end of 2019.

Zeng said the Wuhan lab has no viruses that can directly infect humans. He noted that a team of international experts coordinated by WHO who visited the lab earlier this year concluded that a lab leak was highly unlikely.

Most experts believe the virus has most likely passed from animals to humans. The highly politicized debate centers on whether a lab leak is so unlikely that the theory should be ruled out as a possibility, or whether it deserves further study.