The World Health Organization on Sunday said there is no evidence the U.S. introduced the coronavirus into China as suggested by Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesman last week.
“We have neither seen the allegation nor any evidence to support it,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told The Washington Times.
WHO is coordinating global response and has sent teams inside China to learn how the virulent bug sprouted and infected over 80,000 Chinese, by far the world’s most by country.
Zhao Lijan, spokesperson and deputy director general of the Foreign Ministry information department, shifted virus blame to America on Twitter.
“What are the names of the hospitals? It might be U.S. Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan,” he wrote. “Be transparent! Make public your data! U.S. owe us an explanation!”
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a principal Trump administration expert-spokesman, said Friday the virus definitely originated in China.
SEE ALSO: U.S. Army brought coronavirus to Wuhan, Chinese Foreign Ministry suggests
“It absolutely came from Wuhan,” Dr. Fauci said on “Fox and Friends.” “There’s no doubt about that.”
The city’s wild animal markets are a prime suspects. The that the deadly SARS, also a coronavirus, was traced to bats fancied by the region’s diners.
China’s Western critics have blamed the virus’s fast spread on the communism regime’s secrecy.
Administration officials say Beijing hid the outbreak for six weeks and blocked outside experts from entering the country to learn more about the disease which has nearly 160,000 confirmed cases world wide.
• Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com.
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