Refute and counter-attack.
Beijing accused Washington on Wednesday of disseminating “conspiratorial” theories on the origins of the pandemic, while the hypothesis of the leak of the coronavirus from a Chinese laboratory has returned in force in recent days in the United States.
The first cases of Covid-19 were identified at the end of 2019 in the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan, before the virus spread across the globe and killed nearly 3.5 million people.
Read alsoCovid-19: China's counter-offensive on the origin of the virus
Beijing has always fiercely fought the theory that Covid-19 could have escaped from one of its laboratories, in particular the Wuhan Institute of Virology, singled out by the former Trump administration.
This week, a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article rekindled speculation in the United States, as calls for a more in-depth investigation mount, including within the scientific community.
"Some in the United States disseminate conspiracy theories and disinformation, such as the hypothesis of a laboratory leak," blasted Wednesday to the press a spokesman for Chinese diplomacy, Zhao Lijian.
China asks US to inspect their labs
Claiming to be based on an unpublished US intelligence report, the Wall Street Journal claims that three researchers from the Chinese laboratory were hospitalized with “symptoms compatible” with the Covid as early as November 2019 - that is to say a month before the official appearance of the disease according to Beijing.
The daily specifies that these symptoms can also be those of a classic “seasonal infection”.
"If the United States really wants to be transparent, then it should, like China, invite WHO experts to investigate the Fort Detrick military base, as well as all of their biological laboratories around the world," said Mr. Zhao.
The laboratory at Fort Detrick, near Washington, is at the heart of research against bioterrorism.
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After a four-week stay in Wuhan at the start of the year, a joint study by WHO and Chinese experts in March deemed a laboratory accident "extremely unlikely".
In the United States, this hypothesis had so far mainly been fueled by the former Trump administration.
But the US intelligence services said last month that it should not be dismissed.
Tuesday, on the occasion of the 74th World Health Assembly bringing together since Monday the 194 members of the WHO, some countries have asked the body to continue its investigation in China.