China on Monday vehemently refuted the US charge that the novel coronavirus was leaked from a bio lab in the country and asserted that the pandemic was likely to have been caused by separate outbreaks in multiple places in the world.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying’s remarks came amidst reports that a ten-member team of the World Health Organisation (WHO) scientists would visit China this month to probe the origin of the coronavirus, which emerged in Wuhan in December 2019.
Beijing is yet to confirm the visit by the WHO team and remained silent about granting permission for it to visit Wuhan city in central China.
“I have no detailed information for you,” Hua told a media briefing here when asked about the visit of the WHO team and whether its schedule included a visit to Wuhan.
“China attaches high importance to cooperation with the WHO. We have been providing support and convenience for WHO’s work,” Hua said.
China has been proactively questioning the widely-held view that the deadly outbreak broke out in a wet market in Wuhan where the live animals are sold. The market remained closed and sealed since early last year.
