The Chinese government published a report on the Covid pandemic Wednesday claiming that the pandemic-causing coronavirus originated in the US, not China as many Americans argue.
The white paper released by China’s State Council Information Office argued that the virus likely originated in the US and caused infections well before the outbreaks in China began in earnest.
Officials said: ‘The US government, instead of facing squarely its failure in response to Covid-19 and reflecting on its shortcomings, has tried to shift the blame and divert people’s attention by shamelessly politicizing SARS-CoV-2 origins tracing.
‘A thorough and in-depth investigation into the origins of the virus should be conducted in the United States. The United States should respond to the reasonable concern of the international community, and give a responsible answer to the world.’
Several US agencies, including the CIA, maintain that evidence points to a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China as the source of the virus, which they argue leaked from the lab either accidentally or on purpose.
The CIA has said it had ‘low confidence’ in its assessment and noted that both lab origin and natural origin remain plausible. The FBI and the Energy Department have also posited that the virus escaped from the WIV, though also with ‘low confidence.’
China has been fending off allegations of a lab leak for years, often becoming the target of China hawks in Congress who have advanced investigative reports into the pandemic’s origins. Many virologists and epidemiologists believe that the coronavirus emerged in the human population after being transmitted between various animal hosts.
Contradicting repeated allegations in the US, the Chinese government said in January that it was ‘extremely unlikely’ that the virus came from a laboratory, adding this stance ‘has been widely recognized by the international community and the scientific community.’
China has been fending off allegations of a lab leak for years, often becoming the target of China hawks in Congress who have advanced investigative reports into the pandemic’s origins
Several US agencies, including the CIA, maintain that evidence points to a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China as the source of the virus, which they argue leaked from the lab either accidentally or on purpose
The Chinese government said in its latest report that the US should not continue to ‘pretend to be deaf and dumb,’ but should respond to the legitimate concerns of the international community.
The White House launched a new Covid website earlier this month, where the official line is that the coronavirus escaped from the WIV labs while criticizing former President Joe Biden and top infectious disease specialist Dr Anthony Fauci.
The Chinese government wrote in its White Paper that in January 2020, ‘the US was aware that an epidemic of a novel coronavirus was spreading quickly within its borders’ and chose to ‘downplay the severity of the epidemic… [on] multiple occasions compared Covid-19 to the flu, saying that it would disappear automatically one day.
‘The US has made China the primary scapegoat for its own mismanaged Covid-19 response. The US government’s indifference and delayed actions wasted the precious time China had secured for the global fight against the pandemic.’
The White Paper goes on to allege that the virus has its roots in US soil, detailing respiratory disease outbreaks from May to October 2019 that the Chinese government alleges were Covid cases, though lab test results never concluded this.
‘A US CDC study revealed that out of 7,389 serological survey samples collected from nine states between December 13, 2019 and January 17, 2020, 106 were SARS-CoV-2 antibody positive. This suggests that the virus existed in the US before the first official case was identified,’ the white paper said.
It continued with a misleading claim that an NIH study proved that the coronavirus was widely circulating by December 2019.
NIH researchers tested 24,079 blood samples collected from participants across 50 states between January 2 and March 18, 2020, identifying nine containing antibodies for the virus.
The White House launched a new Covid website earlier this month, where the official line is that the coronavirus escaped from the WIV labs while criticizing former President Joe Biden and top infectious disease specialist Dr Anthony Fauci.
But antibody tests can cross-react with other coronaviruses, such as the common cold, and can produce false positives. Further, antibodies only confirm exposure, not active infection or chains of transmission.
The Chinese government’s framing also avoids noting that the initial sequences of the virus, conducted by officials at China’s CDC, originated from patient samples at Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital and workers at the Huanan Seafood Market.
It added that the US recorded around 1,500 ‘serious laboratory incidents involving coronaviruses and other highly dangerous pathogens linked to diseases such as SARS, MERS, Ebola, anthrax, smallpox, and avian influenza.’
The allegation excludes the fact that all but 11 incidents were minor, such as broken vials. Fifteen people contracted laboratory-acquired infections, and there were three unintended infections of animals.
The Chinese government maintains that the US failed to proactively share information about early illness outbreaks with the World Health Organization.
‘The US should cease from shifting blame and evading responsibility, stop finding external excuses for its internal malaise, and genuinely reflect on and overhaul its public health policies,’ the Chinese government said.
‘The US cannot continue to turn a deaf ear to the numerous questions over its conduct.’
