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China rejects Wuhan lab leak theory, calls for investigating US facilities

"Establishing the origin of coronavirus should be based on a scientific approach and be free of political intervention," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian stressed

BEIJING, June 10. /TASS/. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian has branded the theory of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus leak from a Wuhan laboratory as "fabricated lies" and called for an investigation at two US biological laboratories at a regular briefing on Friday.

"Establishing the origin of coronavirus should be based on a scientific approach and be free of political intervention. The theory of a laboratory leak is a lie fabricated for political purposes. It completely defies logic," he said, commenting on a recent report by experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) in which they urged to study this theory in greater detail.

"China has already organized visits of WHO expert groups several times. Their report clearly says that the theory of a coronavirus leak as a result of a laboratory incident is highly improbable," the diplomat added.

"If we want to conduct an investigation, why not look at Fort Detrick as well as at the University of South Carolina. Both of these sites in the US are highly suspicious. And also, there is increasingly more evidence that coronavirus appeared in different parts of the world," the spokesman added.

On Thursday, the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) organized by the WHO published a report in which it urged to study the theory of a laboratory origin of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in greater detail. The SAGO consists of more than 20 experts, including specialists from Russia, Australia, Brazil, Germany, India, China, the US, France and South Africa.

The March 2021 joint report by the WHO and China published following an international mission to Wuhan noted that the most likely scenario of the emergence of COVID-19 is the transmission of the disease from bats to another animal which subsequently infected humans. However, the specialists did not reach a conclusion as to how the virus appeared at the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan. There were also assumptions of its laboratory origin.