Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has demanded that China ‘come clean’ following reports that coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory, not as a bioweapon, but as part of bungling experiments to prove that Chinese scientists were superior to Americans in identifying emerging virus threats.
It comes after President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the U.S. is trying to determine whether the coronavirus first crossed to humans accidentally during experiments with bats at the Wuhan Institute of Virology Lab.
After words of the outbreak finally became public, Chinese leaders were quick to blame Wuhan’s ‘wet market’ where wild animals – though not bats – are sold for consumption, leading one source to tell Fox News the debacle is the ‘costliest government cover-up of all time.’
Workers are seen next to a cage with mice (right) at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in a file photo. US officials reportedly believe coronavirus first crossed over to humans inside the lab
The Wuhan Institute of Virology is China’s only bio-safety level four (BSL-4) facility
‘Patient zero’ worked at the Wuhan lab, and spread the virus into the local population after leaving work, sources who had been briefed on intelligence told the outlet.
‘What we do know is we know that this virus originated in Wuhan, China,’ Pompeo told Fox News on Wednesday evening. ‘We know there is the Wuhan Institute of Virology just a handful of miles away from where the wet market was. There is still lots to learn. The United States government is working diligently to figure it out.’
Asked about the new allegations at a White House press conference on Wednesday, Trump replied cryptically: ‘More and more, we’re hearing the story.
‘We are doing a very thorough examination of this horrible situation that happened,’ Trump said.
Mike Pompeo (pictured on April 8) demanded that China ‘come clean’ following reports that coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory
Asked if he had raised the subject in his conversations with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump said: ‘I don’t want to discuss what I talked to him about the laboratory, I just don’t want to discuss, it’s inappropriate right now.’
China has repeatedly denied the allegations. Shi Zhengli, a director of the institute, told the press in February that she ‘guaranteed with her own life’ that the outbreak was not related to the lab.
When the wildlife market was closed in January, a report appeared in the Beijing News identifying Huang Yanling, a researcher at the Institute of Virology, as ‘patient zero’ – the first person to be infected.
The claim was described as ‘fake information’ by the institute, which said Huang left in 2015, was in good health and had not been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Last month, Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accused the American army of bringing the coronavirus to Wuhan through his account on Twitter.