WHO experts should go to Fort Detrick lab: China links US to coronavirus origin

After the World Health Organization (WHO) asked for the second stage ofinternational probe into the origin of the coronavirus pandemicincluding auditof Chinese labs, China's foreign ministry slammed the move saying, "WHO experts should go to Fort Detrick."

"If labs are to be investigated, then the WHO experts should go to Fort Detrick. The US should act transparently & responsibly as soon as possible and invite WHO experts for an inquiry into the Fort Detrick lab," China's foreign ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao said.

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"Only in this way can truth be revealed to the world," Zhao added.

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WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said audits should include "relevant laboratories and research institutions operating in the area of the initial human cases identified in December 2019" after the virus was first discovered in Wuhan.

China's vice health minister Zeng Yixin had expressed surprise over the plan. Yuan Zhiming, director of the National Biosafety Laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology added that "no pathogen leakage or staff infection accidents have occurred" since the lab opened three years ago.

"We hope the WHO would seriously review the considerations and suggestions made by Chinese experts and truly treat the origin tracing of the COVID-19 virus as a scientific matter," Zeng Yixin, China's vice minister of national health commission said.

Zeng hit out at the virus investigation by the WHO asserting that it should "get rid of political interference" and "steadily promote investigation into the origin of the virus in multiple regions around the world".

The WHO chief has urged Chinese authorities to be "transparent" on sharing information about the virus in the second phase of investigation as he called for more studies of animal markets around Wuhan.

The UN health agency had sent an expert team in January to China after over a year since the pandemic began however it reportedly wasn't able to find conclusive evidence.

WHO officials had said Chinese authorities hadn't shared raw data during the first phase of the investigation when experts visited the country.

(With inputs from Agencies)