Fighting global adversity from the coronavirus and preparing for a WHO investigation into its origin, China claimed on Friday that just because Covid-19 cases were first reported in Wuhan does not mean the contagion originated from the central city of China.
Various Chinese state media outlets have been publishing reports in recent days indicating that various food products imported from different countries, including a shipment of fish from India, had traces of the Covid-19 claiming that the virus may have entered China at through foreign routes.
When asked if that is also China’s official opinion, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a press conference here that “although China was the first to report on the coronavirus, it does not necessarily mean let China be the place where the virus originated. “
“So we believe that the origin process is a complex scientific issue that requires joint efforts in COVID-19 cooperation from the scientific community around the world. Only then can we protect ourselves against future risks because origin tracing is an evolving and sustained process that involves many countries and regions, ”he said.
His response came when the World Health Organization (WHO) team to investigate the origin of the virus is due to reach China, even though Beijing has not yet given a timetable.
There is also a sense of relief here that US President Donald Trump, who launched a tirade against China about Covid-19, calling it a “China virus”, is on the verge of disappearing. Trump also denounced the WHO claiming that it is practically controlled by China.
In addition to stopping funding for the WHO, the Trump administration has formally notified the UN of its decision to remove the US from the world health body, but US President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to return. join him.
Since the coronavirus cases emerged in Wuhan in December last year before turning into a global pandemic with a worldwide death toll exceeding 1.4 million.
China, in addition to denying US allegations that the virus emerged from a secret biological laboratory in Wuhan, also refuted allegations that it emanated from a wet market in the city of bats or pangolins before infecting humans.
The market has been closed ever since.
In May, the World Health Assembly (WHA), the governing body of WHO’s 194 member states, passed a resolution to establish an independent investigation to carry out an “impartial, independent and comprehensive assessment” of the international response. . like the WHO.
He also asked the WHO to investigate the “source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population.”
China, which has backed the investigation with a clause that it should start after the coronavirus is under control, said it is preparing to host the WHO expert team.
WHO emergency expert Dr. Mike Ryan told the media earlier this week that his organization has received assurances from China that an international field trip will be organized to investigate the origins of the novel coronavirus. soon as possible.
“We fully hope that we will have a team on the ground,” Ryan said, quoted by the state CGTN on Nov. 25.
Ryan said the Wuhan market, where the virus is reported to have originated, is “likely to have been an amplification point” of virus transmission, but whether it was from human, animal or environmental spread is not yet known, according to The report. saying.
He said there were human cases that preceded that event, according to the CGTN report.
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