Beijing: China denied Thursday any cover-up in reporting the initial information of the novel coronavirus outbreak in December last as it put up a staunch defence of World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, refuting US President Donald Trump’s allegation that he (Ghebreyesus ) was ‘very China centric’.
“China was the first country to report the COVID-19 to the World Health Organisation (WHO), (and) that doesn’t mean the virus originated from Wuhan,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here. He dismissed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s charge of China hiding the COVID-19 data.
“Epidemic may break out first anywhere in the world. But its origin is a matter of science and we should leave it to science and medical community,” said Zhao, who earlier created a storm by alleging March 12 that the US Army may have brought the virus to Wuhan, leading to a diplomatic protest by Washington.
While he didn’t revisit his allegation, Zhao, in a detailed reply to Pompeo’s charge, referred to Wuhan lifting its 76-day lockdown Wednesday which, he said, boosted the confidence of other countries.
“More and more people have come to realise that Chinese solution is viable and Chinese experience is of great value. Any responsible country will stand firmly against labelling the virus,” Zhao Lijian said.
In an official timeline of the coronavirus released April 6, China said the novel coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan in ‘late December 2019’ where the infection was listed as ‘pneumonia of unknown cause’, but skirted the key question about its origin.
“Accusation of China covered up the epidemic and lack of transparency is groundless,” Zhao said. “China had informed WHO of the genetic sequence of the virus which was used by American labs in their efforts to develop a vaccine. A US specialist was also part of the WHO team which visited Wuhan,” he added.
To another question about local officials in Wuhan concealing the information and not acting in time to contain the virus, Zhao said, ‘as to the initial stage of the outbreak, it is a new virus. There is a process before we can get to know it fully, there is no such thing as (cover-up) as you claim’. “The US had open access to information and data on the virus,” Zhao Lijian asserted, referring to the Chinese research group publishing the details.
“So, China has done what we should and could do. As to whether the US made good use of the precious time we bought, the information we provided and whether it took effective preventive control measures, we believe history will give a fair judgement,” Zhao said. “Stigmatising China will prove deeply to unpopular. Virus respects no borders,” he added.
Zhao also refuted Trump’s allegation of the WHO chief being ‘very China centric’. He said the UN health agency under Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has ‘fulfilled its due role and upheld a science-based objective and played an important role in helping countries to fight the virus and coordinating international cooperation’.
PTI