U.S. China bicker over tracing coronavirus origin from animal-to-human or leaked from a lab

The United States (U.S) and China at the weekend disagreed over reports disputing the origin of coronavirus in the world. While US Spy Agencies argued that the origin of coronavirus may never be known based on current data, China berated the US for not relying on science in its findings but on its intelligence. China, therefore, accused the US of politicizing the coronavirus.

The U.S. intelligence agencies had in an update of a 90-day review last Friday disclosed that the origins of COVID-19, may never be identified. The report provided more details of their review of whether coronavirus emanated from animal-to-human transmission or leaked from a lab.

The Office of the U.S. Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) had indicated in a declassified report that a natural origin and a lab leak are both plausible hypotheses for how SARS-COV-2 first infected humans. The National Intelligence Director, however, pointed out that analysts disagree on which is more likely or whether any definitive assessment can be made at all.

The US Intelligence report disagreed with the perceptions that coronavirus was created as a bioweapon. The agencies argued that proponents of this theory “do not have direct access to the Wuhan Institute of Virology”; being accused of spreading disinformation.

The Biden administration had in August released a review report at a time of intense debate whether to blame China for the consequences of the global coronavirus pandemic or blame governments that failed to move quickly enough to protect citizens.

China had on Friday berated the U.S on the report.

The Chinese Embassy spokesperson in Washington DC, Liu Pengyu, had in a statement declared: “The US moves of relying on its intelligence apparatus instead of scientists to trace the origins of COVID-19 is a complete political farce.

“… It will only undermine science-based origins study and hinder the global effort of finding the source of the virus.”

Some U.S. spy agencies had strongly favored the explanation that the virus originated in nature. But there has been little corroboration and over recent months the virus has spread widely and naturally among wild animals.

The Office of the U.S. Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) report had disclosed that  four U.S. spy agencies and a multi-agency body have “low confidence” that COVID-19 emanated from an infected animal or a related virus.

ODNI noted that one agency admitted to have  “moderate confidence” that the first human COVID-19 infection most likely was the result of a laboratory accident, probably involving experimentation or animal handling by the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

U.S. Spy agencies made a counter-argument that they will not be able to produce a more definitive explanation for the origin of COVID-19 without new information demonstrating that the virus took a specific pathway from animals to humans or that a Wuhan laboratory was handling the virus or a related virus before COVID-19 surfaced.

The ODNI report maintained that U.S. agencies and the global scientific community lacked “clinical samples or a complete understanding of epidemiological data from the earliest COVID-19 cases”; adding that it could revisit this inconclusive finding if more evidence surfaces.

China at all time kicked against international criticisms that it declined  to cooperate more fully in investigations of COVID’s origins.

The Chinese Embassy statement in Washington had declared: “We have been supporting science-based efforts on origins tracing and will continue to stay actively engaged. “That said, we firmly oppose attempts to politicize this issue.”

Former President Donald Trump had referred to COVID-19 as “China virus.”