BEIJING - China on Friday refuted accusations from the United States to the effect that China's stance on the next stage of the global origin-tracing issue was "irresponsible and dangerous", replying that the US side has been extremely irresponsible and shameful in its behavior toward its own people and the international community.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a daily news briefing when asked to comment on the "deep disappointment" expressed by the White House concerning China's stance on the next stage of global origin tracing. Zhao said that some people in the United States have continued to slander and smear China, using the epidemic as an excuse, totally disregarding common sense and taking an arrogant approach to science.

"China resolutely says no to this," said Zhao.

He said that, not only did China take the lead in controlling the domestic epidemic, but it has also offered over 300 billion masks, 3.7 billion protective suits, 4.8 billion test kits and large quantities of other epidemic-prevention materials to more than 200 countries and regions around the world. China has also provided more than 600 million doses of vaccines and has continuously made important contributions to the global fight against the epidemic.

China has always maintained an open and transparent attitude on the origin-tracing issue and has invited WHO experts to China twice. The expert group visited all the places they wanted and met everyone they wanted, said Zhao.

"China's fight against the epidemic can withstand the test of history and the people. However, it is the actions of the United States that have deeply disappointed the international community and its own people," said the spokesperson.

The United States has never responded to reports that early COVID-19 cases in the United States may be earlier than the first case currently reported. It is also turning a blind eye to concerns by the international community regarding the US military facility Fort Detrick and 200 plus US overseas biological laboratories, said Zhao, adding that this is the most dangerous attitude.

Zhao said that viruses are the common enemy of mankind, and origin-tracing is an important and complex scientific issue that needs the cooperation of scientists from all over the world, as well as the joint efforts and cooperation of the governments and people of all countries.

He stressed that stigmatizing other countries using the epidemic and politicizing the origin-tracing issue will only provoke strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition from the international community, and will never succeed.

BEIJING - China hopes that the World Health Organization (WHO) can adhere to the spirit of science, professionalism and objectivity and work with the international community to jointly uphold the scientific integrity of studying the origins of COVID-19, resist the headwind of politicization and safeguard the sound atmosphere of global anti-epidemic cooperation, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Friday.

He said China has always attached great importance to the origin-tracing issue and will continue to promote its own origin-tracing research. At the same time, as one of the first countries to cooperate with WHO in origin-tracing research, China will continue to actively participate in the next stage of global origin-tracing cooperation.

Zhao made the remarks during a daily news briefing when asked to comment on a query that the WHO briefed member states on the steps to be taken in the second phase of the study to trace the origins of COVID-19 on July 16.

At the briefing of WHO member states on July 16, China and many other countries have clearly expressed their basic position on the work plan on the second phase origins study proposed by the WHO Secretariat, Zhao noted.

"This work plan is inconsistent with the resolution of the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly," Zhao said, adding that the resolution clearly requests the WHO director-general to continue to work closely with countries to identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of transmission to humans.

"This means that member states must take the lead in formulating the next phase of origin tracing work plan. The WHO should fully consult with member states and reach an agreement. The drafting process of the work plan should also be open and transparent," Zhao said.

This work plan is also inconsistent with the conclusions and recommendations of the joint WHO-China study on COVID-19 origin tracing. Its authoritative conclusions and scientific suggestions should be an important foundation for the next stage of global origin-tracing work, the spokesperson added.

"China and many WHO member states regret to note that this work plan has been seriously politicized and interfered, and it is a document that loses scientific and objective principles and lacks the spirit of cooperation," Zhao said.

The joint WHO-China study on COVID-19 origin tracing clearly draws the conclusion that a laboratory incident is "extremely unlikely" as the cause of COVID-19, and the international scientific community also has broad consensus on this, he said, adding that however, this work plan still insists that "China's violation of laboratory procedures caused virus leakage" as the research focus, but deliberately ignores important research directions such as early global cases and the role of cold chains in the transmission of the virus.

This has to be reminiscent that this work plan echoes the "laboratory leakage theory" clamored by individual countries such as the United States. Coupled with the lack of transparency in the drafting process, people have to suspect that this work plan is the product of political manipulation, he added.

According to studies, the novel coronavirus may have been circulating outside China before the country reported its first case of COVID-19 in late December 2019.

Let's take a look at the timeline so far.

BEIJING - China and the international community have every reason to raise doubts about Fort Detrick and call on the World Health Organization to investigate the Fort Detrick lab on the origin-tracing of the novel coronavirus, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday.

Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a daily news briefing in response to a query on tracing the origin of the coronavirus.

Suggestions that the novel coronavirus was circulating in Europe months before China officially confirmed the first case in Wuhan have been revived by a new study of blood samples collected in Italy as early as October 2019.

Cancer researchers at Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori in Milan reported in a paper published on Monday that renewed tests of pre-pandemic blood samples at two laboratories were found to have antibodies normally associated with the COVID-19 infection.

"The results of this retesting suggest that what we previously reported in asymptomatic patients is a plausible signal of early circulation of the virus in Italy," Giovanni Apolone, one of the researchers, told the Financial Times.

"If this is confirmed, this would explain the explosion of symptomatic cases observed in Italy. SARS-CoV-2, or an earlier version, circulated silently, under the surface."

Before the pandemic started, Italian researchers had screened 959 individuals for lung cancer, and last year they retested those samples looking for coronavirus-linked antibodies. They claimed they had found traces of COVID-19 infection in some samples.

The World Health Organization asked for further testing to be carried out, and the samples were sent to the VisMederi laboratory in Siena, Italy, and to a facility at Erasmus University in the Netherlands, affiliated with the WHO.

Positive readings

Three samples from the new tests were found by both Erasmus and VisMederi to have positive readings for the COVID-19-linked antibody IgM, according to the Financial Times.

Lab researchers retested 29 of the Italian samples, including some positive and some negative. They also retested 29 control cases from 2018.

The paper has been published as a preprint on the science website medRxiv and has not yet been peer-reviewed. Marion Koopmans, head of virology at Erasmus University, said the new research may not be conclusive.

She said results from the new study were "interesting", but according to the university's strict criteria, none of the samples provided conclusive proof of prior COVID-19 infection.

"We use a rather stringent threshold and cannot rule out that some of the observed reactivity is real," she was quoted as saying by the FT.

"However, for confirmation of earlier circulation, we would recommend studies of patients with unexplained illness for virological confirmation. That does not mean it is impossible … Just that you would like to see other pieces of evidence."

The study stated that none of the samples contained "high enough levels of each of the three types of antibodies" that Erasmus requires to be considered proof of infection.

Gabriella Sozzi, one of the Italian researchers, said that in nine samples that VisMederi said were positive for infection, "levels of IgM antibodies were below the cutoff point set by Erasmus".

The virus may have been "less aggressive or contagious" in the pre-pandemic period, Sozzi told the FT, adding that this made it "necessary to use highly sensitive tests despite the risk of finding 'false positive' cases".

The FT reported that the WHO had said it was "grateful" to scientists trying to advance the understanding of the origins of COVID-19. It added that "it was not part of the laboratory analysis" and that the results "highlighted the challenge of conducting antibody tests on samples from 2019".

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian demanded on Wednesday that the United States show transparency and conduct a thorough investigation into its Fort Detrick laboratory and other biological labs overseas over the origins of COVID-19, in response to appeals from people in China and around the world.

By Wednesday afternoon, an open letter published on Saturday asking the World Health Organization to probe Fort Detrick had garnered nearly 5 million signatures from Chinese netizens.

"The soaring number reflects the Chinese people's demands and anger at some people in the US who manipulate the origin-tracing issue for political reasons," Zhao said at a regular news briefing in Beijing.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a "cease and desist order" in July 2019 to halt research at Fort Detrick that involved dangerous organisms like the Ebola virus. The same month, a "respiratory outbreak" of unknown cause saw more than 60 residents at a Northern Virginia retirement community become ill.

Later that year, Maryland, where Fort Detrick is based, witnessed a doubling of the number of residents who developed a respiratory illness related to vaping.

But the CDC never released information about the shutdown of the lab's deadly germ research operations, citing "national security reasons".

"An investigation into Fort Detrick is long-overdue, but the US has not done it yet, so the mystery remains unsolved," Zhao said, adding that was a question the US must answer regarding the tracing of the origins of COVID-19.

He added that with 630,000 of its citizens lost to the pandemic, the US should take concrete measures to thoroughly investigate the origins of the virus at home, discover the reason for its poor response to the pandemic, and punish those who should be held accountable.

He said that while Washington remains silent whenever Fort Detrick is mentioned, it seeks to stigmatize and demonize China under the pretext of origin-tracing.

Zhao refuted speculation by some US officials and media that three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized with COVID-19 in November 2019.

He said that if the US was so sure of its claim, it should prove it by revealing the names and test reports of the researchers concerned.

"I can tell you that the US cannot provide any evidence, because it is lying," Zhao said.

As COVID-19 sweeps through the world, medical scientists are racing to find the origin of the outbreak, specifically, to locate patient zero of the disease.

However, scientists said it is extremely difficult to find patient zero of a contagious disease. Scientists have yet to find patient zero for the 1918 influenza pandemic, HIV or the H1N1 influenza in 2009.

Voiceover: Ian Goodrum

Script: Ma Chi

Editing: Zhang Chunyan, Shan Juan 

The overwhelming calls for justice made by more and more countries over COVID-19 origin-tracing work are in sharp contrast to the practice of certain countries that seek political manipulation, reject science and distort facts, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Tuesday.

He made the remarks as another seven countries, including Grenada and Kiribati, endorsed the letter sent to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus opposing the politicization of the study of the origins of the virus. So far, 55 countries have endorsed the letter.

The WHO notified member states of its plan for the second phase of virus-origin studies at its Member State Briefing on Friday, which is inconsistent with the position of China and many other countries.

According to the spokesman, many countries, including Russia, Belarus, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, stressed at the briefing that the study of origins of the virus is a matter of science and cannot be politicized.

They also said that the report, "WHO-convened global study of origins of SARS-CoV-2: China Part", should be upheld.

"This fully reflects where justice lies and what is the shared aspiration of the international community," Zhao said, adding that it also demonstrated that those who are impartial and objective, and who champion fairness and justice are in the majority.

He said that relevant parties should stop political manipulation of origin-tracing, stop using it as an excuse to shift the blame and stop deliberately sabotaging international cooperation on the study of the origins of the virus.

China urged relevant parties to act in a responsible and scientific way, and make contributions with the international community to defeat the virus and protect people's well-being, Zhao said.

At the news briefing, the spokesman also commended the professionalism and spirit of cooperation as demonstrated during the creation of the Tianjin Biosecurity Guidelines for Codes of Conduct for Scientists, which involved the participation of scientists from 21 countries.

The guidelines, which were recently endorsed by the InterAcademy Partnership, are a set of 10 guiding principles and standards of conduct designed to underpin biosecurity governance at national and institutional levels.

"This again shows that in the face of global issues, as long as we step up mutual trust and deepen cooperation, we can find effective ways and solutions to address them," Zhao said.

Noting that there is no boundary for biosecurity, the spokesman said that China will continue to be deeply engaged in global biosecurity governance, contribute China's wisdom and proposals, and work with the international community to jointly promote shared security and common development.