As the allegation that the coronavirus emerged from a Wuhan facility reappeared on Wednesday, China accused the US of "promoting conspiracy theories and falsehoods," while demanding Washington to open its virology facilities to scrutiny.

After a World Health Organization (WHO) expedition to China was troubled by delays and dogged by political baggage, pressure is increasing for a new investigation into the origins of Covid-19, led by the United States.

Three lab workers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized with coronavirus-like symptoms in November 2019, a month before the pandemic's first declared case, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal quoting US intelligence.

According to the newspaper, researchers had obtained samples from a mine in southwestern China seven years beforehand, when miners had caught a mystery sickness caused by a new bat-borne coronavirus.

As the allegation that the coronavirus emerged from a Wuhan facility reappeared on Wednesday, China accused the US of "promoting conspiracy theories and falsehoods," while demanding Washington to open its virology facilities to scrutiny.

After a World Health Organization (WHO) expedition to China was troubled by delays and dogged by political baggage, pressure is increasing for a new investigation into the origins of Covid-19, led by the United States.

Three lab workers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized with coronavirus-like symptoms in November 2019, a month before the pandemic's first declared case, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal quoting US intelligence.

According to the newspaper, researchers had obtained samples from a mine in southwestern China seven years beforehand, when miners had caught a mystery sickness caused by a new bat-borne coronavirus.