China Accuses US of Originating COVID-19 Amid Renewed Lab Leak Allegations

China on Wednesday accused the United States of originating COVID-19, claiming Washington was attempting to “shift the blame” after US President Donald Trump reiterated that the virus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, the New York Post reported. The Chinese government argued that “substantial evidence” suggests COVID may have emerged in the US earlier than in China, while also insisting in a white paper that the lab leak theory was “extremely unlikely.”

Chinese officials stated, “The US government, instead of facing squarely its failure in response to COVID-19 and reflecting on its shortcomings, has tried to shift the blame and divert people’s attention by shamelessly politicising SARS-CoV-2 origins tracing.” According to the report, COVID-19 may have circulated in the US earlier than officially recognized. These claims come after the White House updated its COVID-19 information page to promote the theory that the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The revised White House page includes the statement: “A lab-related incident involving gain-of-function research is the most likely the origin of COVID-19,” according to the New York Post. In January, the CIA stated that a lab origin was more likely than a natural one, although it expressed “low confidence” and acknowledged that both theories remain plausible. A House panel and other federal agencies, including the FBI, have reached similar conclusions regarding the lab leak hypothesis.

China’s white paper highlighted a joint study with the World Health Organization, which found that COVID-19 was likely transmitted from bats to humans via another animal. The report, which also analysed the prevention and control of the disease, criticised the US for failing to do more to combat the pandemic. It claimed the US had “severely undermined joint international efforts in the fight against the pandemic and become a weak link in global public health governance.”

China has long faced accusations of covering up the severity of the virus during its early spread. In the latest report, Chinese officials asserted that the US cannot continue to “turn a deaf ear to the numerous questions over its conduct.”