China health officials lash out at WHO, defend virus search

Chinese health officials defended their search for the source of the COVID-19 virus and lashed out Saturday at the World Health Organisation (WHO) after its leader said Beijing should have shared genetic information earlier.

Chinese health officials defended their search for the source of the COVID-19 virus and lashed out Saturday at the World Health Organisation (WHO) after its leader said Beijing should have shared genetic information earlier.

The WHO comments were “offensive and disrespectful," said the director of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shen Hongbing. He accused the WHO of “attempting to smear China” and said it should avoid helping others "politicise COVID-19.” The global health body's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said March 17 that newly disclosed genetic material gathered in Wuhan in central China, where the first cases were detected in late 2019, “should have been shared three years ago.” “As a responsible country and as scientists, we have always actively shared research results with scientists from around the world,” Shen said at a news conference.

The origins of COVID-19 are still debated and the focus of bitter political dispute.

Explained | Is China sharing enough COVID-19 information?

Many scientists believe it jumped from animals to humans at a market in Wuhan, but the city also is home to laboratories including China's top facility for collecting viruses. That prompted suggestions COVID-19 might have leaked from one.

The ruling Communist Party has tried to deflect criticism of its handling of the outbreak by spreading uncertainty about its origins.

Officials have repeated anti-U.S. conspiracy theories that the virus was created by Washington and smuggled into China. The government also says the virus might have entered China on mail or food shipments, though scientists abroad see no evidence to support that.