After allegations that COVID-19 has been circulating in the United States since December 2019, a leading Chinese disease expert suggested the next phase of inquiries into the disease's origins should focus on the United States.
People infected with the Sars-CoV-2 virus were discovered in late December 2019, according to data based on findings from the Chinese Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The study's assumption is based on the discovery that because antibodies do not show until around two weeks after infection, the participants were likely exposed to the virus for at least several weeks before their samples were taken.
In January 2020, the first cases of the virus were detected in the United States. The report was released by the National Institutes of Health in the United States (NIH).
The focus of research should now be turned to the United States, according to Zeng Guang, the top epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, who told state-owned tabloid the Global Times. "All bio-weapons-related issues that the country has should be scrutinized," Guang added, noting that the United States has a large number of biological laboratories.
Since the virus was initially identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019, China and the US have been throwing fingers at one other over its origin. The United States had moved its attention to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and other Western countries had followed suit.
The United States even claimed that the pandemic was caused by a laboratory spill. WHO dispatched a team to Wuhan to look into the virus's origins, but they were unable to come up with any definitive results. On May 23, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the US initial response team to combat the virus, stated he hasn't persuaded the virus formed naturally. On May 24, Fauci stated that he believes the virus first appeared spontaneously, but that more research is needed.
Dr. Fauci denied on Wednesday that he "deliberately suppressed" the theory that COVID-19 originated in a Wuhan, China facility. "To claim we 'deliberately repressed' the lab leak theory," Fauci told CBS News, "I believe it's a bit of a distortion." Meanwhile, Fauci is in danger of losing his job, as a group of Republicans introduced the "Fire Fauci Act" on Tuesday, which, if passed, would require the US Senate to ratify his replacement.
