Washington, USA
Three researchers from
China's Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) sought hospital care in November
2019, months before China disclosed the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wall Street
Journal reported on Sunday, citing a previously undisclosed US intelligence
report.China refused to give raw data on early Covid-19 cases to the WHO team probing the origins of the pandemic
The newspaper said the report - which provides fresh details on
the number of researchers affected, the timing of their illnesses, and their
hospital visits - may add weight to calls for a broader probe of whether the
COVID-19 virus could have escaped from the laboratory.
The report came on the eve of a meeting of the World Health
Organization's decision-making body, which is expected to discuss the next
phase of an investigation into the origins of COVID-19.
A National Security Council spokeswoman had no comment on the
Journal's report but said the Biden administration continued to have
"serious questions about the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic,
including its origins within the Peoples Republic of China."
She said the US government was working with the WHO and other
member states to support an expert-driven evaluation of the pandemic's origins
"that is free from interference or politicization."
"We're not going to make pronouncements that prejudge an
ongoing WHO study into the source of SARS-CoV-2, but we've been clear that
sound and technically credible theories should be thoroughly evaluated by
international experts," she said.
The Journal said current and former officials familiar with the
intelligence about the lab researchers expressed a range of views about the
strength of the report's supporting evidence, with one unnamed person saying it
needed "further investigation and additional corroboration."
The United States, Norway, Canada, Britain and other countries
in March expressed concerns about the WHO-led COVID-19 origins study, and
called for further investigation and full access to all pertinent human, animal
and other data about the early stages of the outbreak.
Washington is keen to ensure greater cooperation and
transparency by China, according to a source familiar with the effort.The
Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for
comment on Sunday.
On Sunday, China's foreign ministry noted that a WHO-led team
had concluded a lab leak was extremely unlikely after a visit in February to
the virology institute.
"The US continues to hype the lab leak theory," the
ministry said in response to a request for comment by the Journal.
"Is it actually concerned about tracing the source or
trying to divert attention?"
The Trump administration had said it suspected the virus may
have escaped from a Chinese lab, which Beijing denies.
A State Department fact sheet released near the end of the Trump
administration had said "the US government has reason to believe that
several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first
identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19
and common seasonal illnesses." It did not say how many researchers.
China refused to give raw data on early COVID-19 cases to the
WHO-led team probing the origins of the pandemic, according to one of the
team's investigators, Reuters reported in February, potentially complicating
efforts to understand how the outbreak began.
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