No evidence of virus in Chinese laboratory: World Health Organization

The World Health Organization is confident that the new coronavirus was not made in a Chinese laboratory, despite strong claims from the Trump administration. The agency said on Monday that Washington had not provided any evidence to support the US president's "speculative" claim that the new coronavirus

"We have not received any information or specific evidence from the United States about the source of the virus," said Michael Ryan, the World Health Organization's director of emergency operations. So from our point of view, it has remained speculative.

Scientists believe the virus spread from animals to humans, with an outbreak in China late last year. It probably spread from the meat market of a wild animal in Wuhan.

Anthony Fauci, America's top infectious disease specialist and director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, echoed the World Health Organization in an interview with National Geographic on Monday. He said the nature of the virus did not appear to have been manipulated artificially or intentionally.

President Trump has repeatedly criticized China for the first outbreak of the virus in Wuhan in December.

Trump recently complained that China had not warned the United States in advance to sabotage his re-election program.

Earlier, Trump said he could say with confidence that the virus that caused the global epidemic had come from a Chinese lab. The US news agency AFP reports that the US is blaming the administration for the coronavirus, which is heating up relations with Beijing.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said there was widespread evidence that the new coronavirus originated from a Chinese laboratory.

China has denied all US allegations. The director of the U.S. National Intelligence Agency says analysts are still investigating the exact source of the outbreak.

Trump has also been sharply critical of the World Health Organization. He has even announced to stop funding the company. Trump says the agency should be ashamed. It is as if they are playing the role of a Chinese public relations agency or PR agency.

"Like any evidence-based organization, we are interested in getting information about the source of the virus," said Michael Ryan, the World Health Organization's emergency director.

"There are 15,000 complete genome sequences of the coronavirus and we have all the evidence to show that the source of the virus is natural," expert Maria Van Kerkhov told a briefing on Monday.

"The source of the virus is being speculated," Ryan said. However, it is more difficult to deal with. This is a political issue. Science needs to be at the center of everything. '