In July, the WHO offered to carry out a second phase of research in China, including a laboratory and market test in Wuhan.
“We will not accept such an origin research plan, because in some respects it does not take into account common sense and is contrary to science,” Zen Jensin, deputy minister of the National Health Commission, told reporters.
He hoped that the WHO would “take seriously the observations and recommendations of Chinese experts and genuinely treat the origin of the Covid-19 virus as a scientific issue and get rid of political influence.”
There is still disagreement among experts about the origin of the coronavirus.
The first known case of infection was detected in Wuhan in central China in December 2019, and the viruses were thought to have been transmitted to humans from an animal in one of the city’s food markets.
However, in May, US President Joe Biden ordered an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus, noting that intelligence services were testing various theories, including a possible leak from a laboratory in China.
Meanwhile, Zen at a press conference called on the WHO not to limit the search for the origin of the virus to China, but to transfer it to other countries as well.
“We believe that the leak from the laboratory is extremely unlikely and that there is no need to invest more energy and effort to test this hypothesis,” said the head of the Chinese delegation to the WHO expert team.
However, he acknowledged that the possibility of laboratory leakage could not be completely ruled out, but that other countries should also consider the possibility of leakage from their laboratories.
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