US Slams China For Rejecting WHO Proposal On COVID Origin Probe, Calls Stand 'Irresponsible, Dangerous'

The United States criticised China for rejecting the second phase of the World Health Organisation probe and accused Beijing of "stonewalling" the study.

New Delhi: In one of the most debated subjects which point at the origin of Covid-19 virus in China, the United States on Friday criticised China for rejecting the second phase of the World Health Organisation (WHO) probe and accused Beijing of "stonewalling" the study.

Addressing a press conference, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said, "The US supports the WHO plan for phase two, which commits to ensuring these studies are scientific, transparent, expert-led, and free from interference."

Psaki added, "We have certainly seen the PRC's [China's] comments, again, rejecting phase two of the WHO study. We are deeply disappointed. Their position is irresponsible, and frankly, dangerous."

She informed that the US continues to seek the much-needed access to data and samples from China. While insisting that it is critical to prevent the next pandemic, it is about saving lives in the future and not time to be stonewalling, she added.

China's bid to reject the phase-two study was followed after the possibility of lab leak theory was included in the WHO proposal. According to the CNN report, Chinese Deputy Head of the National Health Commission Zeng Yixin, that Beijing was surprised to see lab leak listed as a research objective under the second phase of the investigation.

"In some aspects, the WHO's plan for next phase of investigation of the coronavirus origin does not respect common sense, and it is against science. It is impossible for us to accept such a plan," Yixin said.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has already requested Beijing to remain transparent and open to cooperate. "We owe it to the millions who suffered and the millions who died to know what happened," he said.

On the other hand, China also confirmed that no worker at the Wuhan Institute Zeng Yixin, was infected with the virus. Yixin  said "no worker or researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology got infected by coronavirus before the first documented cases of Covid-19".

According to US officials who are tracking the intelligence review to determine the origins of Covid-19 believe that the theory of virus accidentally escaping from a lab in Wuhan as equally plausible as the possibility that it emerged naturally in the wild, according to ANI.

In recent months, the lab-leak theory has gained much attention which led to the US President Joe Biden asking the American intelligence team a 90-day deadline to get into the details of the virus origin.

A WHO-led team of scientists that travelled to China in early 2021 to investigate the origins of the virus struggled to get a clear picture of what research China was conducting beforehand, faced constraints during its visit, and had little power to conduct thorough and impartial research.