Moscow. June 13. INTERFAX.RU – The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adanom Ghebreyesus said at the G7 summit that he did not rule out the version of the laboratory leak of COVID-19, and China should help in investigating the source of the virus, the Daily Mail reported.
“I think these people should find out where the virus came from, they deserve it. This is necessary so that in the future we can prevent a recurrence of the pandemic,” the publication quotes the director general of WHO.
According to him, there was not enough “transparency and cooperation” on the part of China at the beginning of the investigation into the origin of the coronavirus.
There is growing controversy over how the virus first appeared – whether it was contact with animals in a market in Wuhan or a leak from a research laboratory in the same city. China says it is not responsible for the pandemic and rejects conspiracy theories that the disease was man-made.
Last month, Joe Biden ordered US intelligence agencies to report in the next three months whether the COVID-19 virus first appeared in China from an animal or from a laboratory leak.
The New York Times, referring to high-ranking officials of the US administration, wrote that American intelligence has at its disposal not yet investigated data related to the source of the coronavirus pandemic, of which the White House was informed. Intelligence intends to use “extraordinary” computing power to find out whether the virus has leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, or spread through human contact with animals.
In May, the Chinese Embassy in the United States criticized the resumed investigation in the United States, considering it as a goal “to accuse China of being the main source of the spread of the coronavirus in the world,” and warned that this would only complicate the fight against the pandemic. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the United States, as part of the investigation, should provide access to WHO specialists to its facilities.
A WHO expert group previously visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The visit report concluded that a virus leak from the institute's laboratory was “highly unlikely.” The UK and the US were extremely critical of this, saying China had deliberately denied experts access to data and samples. US media previously reported that US intelligence services are currently investigating reports that several employees of the Wuhan laboratory became seriously ill in 2019, even before the Chinese authorities reported the first case of coronavirus. In China, this version was rejected.
In turn, former US President Donald Trump stated that the version put forward by him at one time that the laboratory in Wuhan could be the source of the COVID-19 coronavirus is finally becoming popular.
