'Science should not be politicised', China refutes US' 'Covid lab leak' claims

China on Monday rejected a new US report that claims the Covid-19 virus may have leaked from a bio laboratory in Wuhan, saying the origins-tracing of the pandemic "is about science and should not be politicised."

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the international experts have considered the theory that the pandemic might have leaked from a Chinese laboratory as "extremely unlikely".

She said it is a science-based, authoritative conclusion reached by the experts of the WHO-China joint mission after field trips to the lab in Wuhan and in-depth communication with researchers.

Mao's remarks came in response to the US Department of Energy's (USDE) latest assessment that the coronavirus mostly likely leaked from a bio laboratory in Wuhan.

The Energy Department now joins the Federal Bureau of Investigation in saying the virus likely spread via a mishap at a Chinese laboratory, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Energy Department's conclusion is the result of new intelligence and is significant because the agency has considerable scientific expertise and oversees a network of US national laboratories, some of which conduct advanced biological research.

Over two years since Covid-19 was first detected in Wuhan, the question of how the virus first emerged remains a mystery.

It is suspected that the coronavirus may have escaped, accidentally or otherwise, from a laboratory in the central Chinese city of Wuhan where the virus was first recorded.

(agency inputs)

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