China backs virus case study

China supports a "comprehensive study" of all early cases of COVID-19 found worldwide and a thorough investigation into some "secretive bases and biological laboratories" all over the world, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the United States said on Wednesday.

The remarks were made at a time when several US officials claimed the investigation on virus-origin tracing in China lacked transparency and called for a strong, comprehensive and expert-led probe on the origins of coronavirus.

The spokesperson noted the conspiracy theory of a "lab leak" is resurfacing, referring to the claim by some that COVID-19 might have escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, Hubei province.

"Lately, some people have played the old trick of political hype on the origin tracing of COVID-19 in the world. Smear campaigns and blame shifting are making a comeback," the spokesperson said in a statement.

On Thursday, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian accused the US government of playing politics and shirking its responsibility in calling for a renewed investigation into the origins of the pandemic.

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday ordered US intelligence agencies to report to him in the next three months on whether the virus was from an animal or a laboratory accident in China.

Zhao said Biden's order showed the US "does not care about facts and truth, nor is it interested in serious scientific origin tracing".

The conspiracy theory of a "lab leak" has been clearly excluded in the research report of the World Health Organization's joint investigation team, an authoritative, official and scientific conclusion, he said.

"The US side claims that it wants China to participate in a comprehensive, transparent, evidence-based international investigation," Zhao said. "We would like to ask the US side to do the same as China and immediately cooperate with the WHO on origin tracing research in a scientific manner."

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus last year, the embassy spokesperson said some political forces have been fixated on political manipulation and a blame game, ignoring their people's urgent need to fight the pandemic and the international demand for cooperation on this front, which has caused the tragic loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.

"The lesson from last year is still fresh in our memory. While the pandemic is still causing great damage in today's world and the international community is expecting greater coordination among countries, some people are turning to their old playbook," the spokesperson said.

On the origin tracing of COVID-19, China has been calling for international cooperation on the basis of respecting facts and science, with a view to better cope with unexpected epidemics in the future, the statement said.

Thorough investigation

It noted that to politicize origin tracing, which should be a matter of science, will only make it hard to find the origin of the virus, give free rein to the "political virus", and seriously hamper international cooperation on the pandemic.

"Out of a sense of responsibility toward the health of mankind, we support a comprehensive study of all early cases of COVID-19 found worldwide and a thorough investigation into some secretive bases and biological laboratories all over the world," the spokesperson said.

Such study and investigation shall be full, transparent and evidence-based, and shall get to the bottom to make everything clear, the spokesperson added.

China reported cases of what people then called "pneumonia of unknown cause" on Dec 27, 2019, according to a white paper "Fighting COVID-19: China in Action" published in June 2020.

The WHO said it received China's official report on the cluster of cases on Jan 3, 2020.

There have been studies reporting that the COVID-19 cases have been present outside of China earlier than previously thought.

For example, scientists at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found evidence of infection in 106 of 7,389 blood donations collected from residents in nine states across the US as early as mid-December 2019, in a study published online in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases on Nov 30, 2020.

The specimens for the US study, gathered by the American Red Cross between Dec 13, 2019, and Jan 17,2020, were sent to the CDC for retrospective testing to see if any had antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the respiratory virus that causes COVID-19.

As a result, scientists found anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in 39 samples from California, Oregon and Washington states, collected as early as Dec 13-16, 2019. Their presence indicate isolated infections may have occurred in the western portion of the US in mid-December, according to the CDC scientists.

Antibodies were also found in 67 samples in Massachusetts, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The samples were collected between Dec 30,2019, and Jan 17, 2020.

The report added to growing evidence that COVID-19 was likely present in countries such as the US, sooner than previously thought.