NGO slams US politicization of COVID-19 origins

MALE -- The United States has attempted to "divert responsibility for its botched COVID-19 response" by politicizing the pandemic and making baseless claims against the Chinese government concerning the virus' origins, a Maldives-based China trade body has said.

Scientific research institutions, non-governmental organizations and news media outlets have all expended tremendous amounts of energy politicizing the pandemic, the Maldives China Trade and Cultural Organization said in a statement on Monday.

"These attempts to politicize the pandemic have done grave harm to a science-based origins-tracing and the global fight against COVID-19," it said, noting that tracing is "an important but complex scientific matter that requires science-based cooperation."

"While China supports and continues to take part in the origins tracing efforts, China should firmly say no to the politicization and political manipulation of the origins tracing," it said.

Leading experts from the World Health Organization and China had been given access to all documents and personnel of interest in a joint study earlier this year before they released an "informative and authoritative" report, according to the statement.