China rejected the World Health Organization’s (WHO) plan for the second phase of the Covid-19 origin study on Thursday, saying it is “shocked” by the proposal because it contains language that is anti-science.
According to Zeng Yixin, vice minister of the National Health Commission (NHC),China opposes politicizing the investigation into the virus’s origins.
Last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was too early to rule out a possible link between the Covid-19 epidemic and a laboratory breach, and that he had encouraged China to be more forthcoming as scientists look for the coronavirus’s origin.
The disease was initially detected in late 2019 in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, sparking the greatest epidemic in a century, killing and infecting millions and paralyzing the global economy.
China has voiced strong opposition against international opinion, which says a high-security bio lab in Wuhan was the source of the virus.