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SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who angered Beijing by calling for a global investigation into the coronavirus outbreak, said he had no evidence to suggest that the disease originated in a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
United States President Donald Trump said Thursday (April 30) that he was confident that the coronavirus could have originated from a Chinese virology laboratory, but declined to describe the evidence he claimed to have seen.
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Morrison said Friday that Australia had no information to back up that theory, and said the confusion supported his push for an investigation to understand how the outbreak started and then quickly spread across the world.
“What we have before us does not suggest that that is the likely source,” Morrison said at a press conference in Canberra when asked about Trump’s comments.
“We have nothing to indicate that this is the likely source, although nothing can be ruled out in these settings,” he said.
“We know it started in China, we know it started in Wuhan, the most likely scenario that has been examined relates to wet wildlife markets, but that is an issue that should be thoroughly evaluated.”
The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), based in the city where the disease was first identified, has rejected suggestions that the coronavirus came from its laboratory.
Most scientists now say the virus originated in wildlife, with bats and pangolins identified as possible host species.
Relations between Australia and China have been strained since the government began seeking support in mid-April for an international investigation into the outbreak.
Beijing sees the investigative call as part of the U.S.-led propaganda against China, while Morrison says the world needs to understand exactly what happened to prevent a repeat of an outbreak that has so far killed more than 200,000 people and closed much of the global economy. .
“This is why it is so important to understand what happened, to make sure that we can prevent such a broad global catastrophe from happening again,” Morrison said.
Beijing’s ambassador to Australia said Chinese consumers could boycott Australian meat, wine, tourism and universities in response to an investigation push, comments that members of the Morrison government have called “threats of economic coercion.”
AUSTRALIA CAN FACILITATE RESTRICTIONS
Australia has successfully contained the outbreak so far, but measures taken to do so will increase unemployment, the economy will plunge into recession for the first time in three decades, and government debt will increase dramatically.
The Australian government said on Friday that it would meet next Friday, a week ahead of schedule, to decide whether to ease restrictions on social distancing as the number of new infections decreases and pressure increases for businesses to reopen and the schools.
Australia has reported 6,700 cases of the new coronavirus and 93 deaths, well below levels reported in the United States and Europe. The growth of new infections has slowed to less than 0.5% per day, compared to 25% a month ago.
Morrison said it was imperative to lift the social distancing restrictions as soon as possible, as 1.5 million people were now receiving unemployment benefits and the government predicted that the unemployment rate would reach 10% in a matter of months.
“We need to restart our economy, we need to restart our society. We cannot keep Australia under control,” Morrison said, using an Australian word for quilt.
The Morrison government has promised to spend more than 10 percent of GDP to boost the economy, but the central bank still warns that the country is heading for its worst contraction since the 1930s.
With fewer than 20 new coronavirus cases discovered each day, Morrison said state and territorial lawmakers would meet on May 8 to determine whether the restrictions should be lifted.
“Australians deserve an early mark for the work they have done,” he told reporters.
Australia attributes its success in slowing the spread of COVID-19 to the social distancing restrictions imposed in March, including the forced closure of pubs, restaurants and the limitation on the size of indoor and outdoor gatherings.
Morrison said 3.5 million people had downloaded an app on their smartphones designed to help doctors track down people potentially exposed to the virus, although the government expects about 40 percent of the 25.7 million to Inhabitants of the country register to ensure it is effective.
The cabinet will also decide next week how to restart the sport across the country, the prime minister said.
The government says any resumption of the sport should not compromise public health, and recommends a staggered start that begins with small groups playing sports without contact outdoors.
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