White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that American experts are studying the report of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the origin of the coronavirus.
“We intend to study this report intensively and quickly, the best employees in our government are focused on this goal,” she said during the briefing.
According to Psaki, the United States is in close contact with foreign partners, there is a mutual exchange of information. A spokeswoman for the White House also noted that after a study, Washington will announce its next steps in relation to the information presented in the WHO report.
Earlier that day, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the US authorities are trying to put pressure on the WHO and the authors of the report on the origin of the coronavirus. According to him, China does not accept endless accusations from the United States and attempts to denigrate the PRC in the fight against the pandemic.
On March 22, WHO said it would publish a report stating that the coronavirus may be similar in origin to the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome. It was carried by bats; it passed to people through the Himalayan civets. At the same time, the organization’s specialists called the animal trade in China a possible reason for the appearance of the coronavirus.
In total, WHO experts have developed four main hypotheses of the possible origin of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Also, researchers have doubts about the artificial origin of the coronavirus and its leak from the laboratory.
In February, US Assistant National Security Officer Jake Sullivan said Washington is insisting that China provide data on the spread of the coronavirus from the earliest days of the outbreak. According to him, the US authorities are concerned about the type of information provided about COVID-19.
Since the spread of the coronavirus in the United States, accusations have been heard more than once against China that the country allegedly interferes with the WHO investigation and is hiding information about the vaccines promoted by the PRC.
At the beginning of May 2020, the current ex-President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced that he had information about the creation of a new type of coronavirus COVID-19 in the laboratory of Wuhan, China, the city where the first focus of the spread of the virus was recorded. The State Department also spoke of Washington’s “overwhelming evidence” confirming the artificial origin of the infection. The Chinese authorities, in turn, continue to deny the information.