US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo supports speculation: COVID-19 linked to Chinese labs
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has released information supporting speculation that the coronavirus pandemic may have originated in laboratories in the People's Republic of China.
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| US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Photo: NBC News |
Pompeo addressed his statement to World Health Organization inspectors who arrived in China this week to investigate the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The U.S. government today provided new information about activities inside Chinese government laboratories in 2019" -UmbrellaPompeo said in a written statement.
In particular, the US Secretary of State said, the United States has reason to believe that some researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology fell ill in the summer of 2019 - before the first reported case of COVID-19.
He also noted that since at least 2016, the institute has been studying the bat coronavirus RaTG13, which is more than 96% similar to COVID-19. According to him, the institute has not reported any “experiments that could increase the infectivity or lethality” of the virus. Pompeo also claimed that the Institute of Virology is involved in military research. “Although the Wuhan Institute of Virology presents itself as a civilian agency, it has collaborated on publications and classified projects with the Chinese military,” Pompeo said in the statement.
"The COVID-19 pandemic was avoidable. Any responsible nation would have invited global health experts to Wuhan within days of the outbreak," Pompeo said, reiterating his call for WHO experts to have access to all facilities, laboratory data, staff, witnesses and complainants.
The US has previously expressed suspicions that the coronavirus may have originated in Chinese laboratories, but has not confirmed its claims. Pompeo's current claim has also not been backed up by documentation. China denies the allegations.