US investigating if coronavirus came from Wuhan lab, not wet market
Coronavirus
The United States government is exploring the possibility that the novel coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory rather than a wet market. Sources have, however, cautioned it was premature to draw any conclusions.
The novel coronavirus, ever since its outbreak inChina's Wuhan, has developed into COVID-19 pandemic, claiming at least 1,36,908 lives.
More than 2 million people have been infected.
Fox News reported on Wednesday that the virus originated in a Wuhan laboratory not as a bioweapon, but as part of China’s effort to demonstrate that its efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal to or greater than the capabilities of the United States.
This report and others have suggested the Wuhan lab where virology experiments take place and lax safety standards there led to someone getting infected and appearing at a nearby “wet” market, where the virus began to spread.
The theoryadds the viruswas accidentally released to the public. Ithas been pushed by supporters of US President Donald Trump.
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To this end,US President Donald Trump, in a press briefing on Wednesday, said his government is trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from a lab in Wuhan, China, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Beijing “needs to come clean” on what they know. “We are doing a very thorough examination of this horrible situation that happened,” he said.
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.”
Other sources told CNN that US intelligence hasn't been able to corroborate the theory but is trying to discern whether someone was infected in the lab through an accident or poor handling of materials and may have then infected others.
The Washington Post has reported on State Department cables from 2018 demonstrating concerns about the safety and the management of the Wuhan Institute of Virology biolab.