[ad_1]
China is repeatedly shifting its narrative on the origin of the virus & nbsp
Key Highlights
- US President Donald Trump today said that the WHO should be ‘ashamed ‘of itself’ and called it a PR agency for China
- The US has launched an investigation into whether the deadly virus “escaped” from the WIV
- China has come under increasing global pressure over lack of transparency in its handling of the coronavirus pandemic
New Delhi: China has refused repeated requests made by the World Health Organization to take part in investigations into the origins of COVID-19.
A WHO representative in China told Sky News that some national investigation is happening but at this stage, Beijing has not invited them to join.
Dr Gauden Galea further said that knowing the origins of the virus is very important as the animal-human interface needs to be studied.
“The priority is we need to know as much as possible to prevent the recurrence,” Dr Galea told Sky News.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has said he has come across evidence that the new coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab, however, the US president’s statement was immediately undermined by intelligence officials and top diplomat Mike Pompeo, who said: “We don’t know precisely where it began. “
The global health emergency has turned into a full-fledged diplomatic crisis with China denying the claim that the virus originated in Wuhan.
China shifting narratives
China is repeatedly shifting its narrative on the origin of the virus.
In January, scientists from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the deadly coronavirus outbreak began at a wholesale animal market in Wuhan city. However, later, China rejected the theory saying that though confirmed cases were first found in the country but it’s not necessary that it was the point of origin.
Zhao Lijian, a foreign ministry spokesman, made a false claim blaming the US Army for bringing the deadly pandemic to China.
Earlier, China’s Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui told TASS that a gene sequence in the novel coronavirus indicates that the virus was imported to China’s Wuhan, instead of emerging there.
The ambassador reiterated that the country had to undertake huge efforts and suffer a lot of casualties in order to fight the pandemic and said that China had bought time for other nations in order to allow them to take prevention and control measures.
