Last week, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus presented member states with a second plan to trace the origins of COVID-19. It includes conducting an audit of the laboratories and markets in Wuhan, the ground zero of the coronavirus pandemic. Tedros wants every single laboratory and research institution operating in Wuhan in Dec. 2019 – the suspected date when the coronavirus cases first appeared – to be audited.
He also proposed a geographic study of Wuhan and neighboring areas where similar viruses like SARS have been detected in animals.
Finally, he proposed an investigation of all animal markets in and around Wuhan, as well as a thorough examination of the exotic wildlife sold at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. This market sold live animals, including exotic and endangered wildlife, prior to its closure on January 2020.
The director-general also called for greater transparency from Beijing and asked Chinese authorities to be more cooperative by providing the WHO access to raw data.
Calls for a more thorough, independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19 came as more evidence supporting the lab leak theory surfaced in recent months. (Related: Liberal media suddenly LOVES the lab leak theory – which NaturalNews has been reporting from the very start.)
Tedros himself only recently admitted that there was a "premature push" in the WHO to rule out the lab leak theory in favor of the natural origin theory. The latter suggests that the COVID-19 virus naturally passed onto humans from animals.
China refuses to open up labs for investigation
Beijing reacted negatively to the WHO's proposal. Zeng Yixin, vice minister of China's National Health Commission, said that the communist nation "cannot accept this kind of plan for origin-tracing."
"To be honest, I was quite surprised when I first saw the WHO's phase two origin-tracing plan," said Zeng during a press conference. "Because it includes as one of its research priorities the hypothesis that China had violated laboratory procedures, leading to virus leakage."
"From this point, I feel it has a disrespect for common sense and reveals an arrogance toward science," he added.
Zeng also said that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) does not have viruses that can directly infect humans. Proponents of the lab leak theory believe that the COVID-19 virus was engineered in a lab in the WIV.
The Chinese vice minister reminded the public that a WHO-coordinated team of international experts visited the WIV earlier this year and concluded that a lab leak was highly unlikely. However, Zeng failed to mention that this investigation has now been discredited due to undisclosed conflicts of interest between some of the team's most prominent members.
During his speech, Zeng not only made it clear that China is rejecting the WHO's plan, but he also strongly denied the lab leak theory. He said reports that staff and graduate students at the WIV had become sick with COVID-19 long before China confirmed the existence of the virus were all untrue.
According to Zeng, China has always been supportive of origin tracing efforts. "However, we are opposed to politicizing the tracing work."
China proposes WHO investigate other countries instead
Beijing has submitted a counter-proposal to the WHO's plan to investigate COVID-19's origin for the second time. According to the communist country's proposal, the WHO should move its investigation out of China.
Zeng said scientists should look for evidence of animal-to-human transmission of viruses in other countries that also had early COVID-19 cases. If the WHO were to accept this proposal, it would effectively block off any possible investigations centered around China.
Zeng also insisted that the WHO should investigate the U.S. military laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland. Fort Detrick is home to America's biological defense program, as well as other military medical research facilities.
China claims that Fort Detrick is a more plausible origin of the COVID-19 virus than the WIV. One spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry said a probe into the workings of Fort Detrick is long overdue and called for the U.S. to provide answers to the international community.
The White House has said there are no credible reasons for a probe to be conducted in Fort Detrick. The entire scientific community has declined to support China's counter-theory.
Learn more about China's attempts to prevent investigators from learning the truth about COVID-19's origins at Pandemic.news.
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