The World Health Organization is recommending more investigation into the theory that Covid-19 leaked from a Chinese laboratory, something once dismissed by some as a conspiracy theory but since taken seriously by some experts and officials.
It's a U-turn by the WHO, which was last year heavily criticized for stating that it was "extremely unlikely" that the virus had leaked from a laboratory, and has faced accusations of being too credulous and deferential to China.
On Friday, Beijing responded forcefully to the report, and repeated its suggestion — without evidence — that the virus may have come from an American laboratory.
“The lab leak theory is totally a lie concocted by anti-China forces for political purposes, which has nothing to do with science,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a daily press briefing. “We always supported and participated in science-based global virus tracing, but we firmly opposed any forms of political manipulation.”
He repeated calls for investigations into “highly suspicious laboratories such as Fort Detrick” in Maryland “and the University of North Carolina,” where China has suggested, again without evidence, that the United States was developing the coronavirus as a bioweapon. NBC News has contacted the Department of Defense and the University of North Carolina for a response.
The group agreed that the now-infamous Wuhan seafood market likely “played an important role” early in the pandemic because a number of patients in December 2019 had links to that site.
However, there are still “gaps in our knowledge,” it said, specifically about how the virus got to the market and where the first “spillover” between animals and humans happened.
The report recommended “further investigations” into the idea this could have happened in a laboratory, as well as “all other” possible routes.
China has previously suggested that Covid could have been imported into its country in frozen food. Thursday’s WHO report said the “cold chain” theory should be investigated further, too.
NBC News tried to contact the information office of China's National Health Commission for comment Friday but was told the officials covering the issue had left for the day.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com
