China rebuffs WHO’s terms for further COVID-19 origins study
Associated PressBEIJING — China cannot accept the World Health Organization’s plan for the second phase of a study into the origins of COVID-19, a senior Chinese health official said Thursday. Zeng Yixin, the vice minister of the National Health Commission, said he was “rather taken aback” that the plan includes further investigation of the theory that the virus might have leaked from a Chinese lab. This is about saving lives in the future, and it’s not a time to be stonewalling.” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of WHO, acknowledged last week that there had been a “premature push” after the first phase of the study to rule out the theory that the virus might have escaped from a Chinese government lab in Wuhan, the city where the disease was first detected in late 2019. Zeng said China has always supported “scientific virus tracing” and wants to see the study extended to other countries and regions.