US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — There is growing confidence that COVID-19 was born in a Wuhan laboratory, but not as a biological weapon, but as a result of Chinese attempts to show that China is no worse than the United States in its efforts to find and fight viruses, and even surpasses them.
This is evidenced by numerous sources familiar with the actions of the Chinese authorities and with relevant materials, writes Fox News.
“This is probably one of the most expensive attempts to hide information,” one source said.
These sources suggest that the first transmission of the virus came from a bat to humans, and that the “null patient” worked in the laboratory and then began to infect Wuhan residents.
According to sources, their confidence is based on materials of classified and open documents. Fox News asked for these documents to be shown.
When John Roberts of Fox News asked a question about this information on Wednesday at a coronavirus briefing, President Trump replied: “We hear this story more and more … We carefully check this terrible situation.”
Documents indicate that doctors from the laboratory tried to contain the spread of the virus. Initially, the Wuhan food market appeared in reports of the possible origin of the virus, but bats were never sold there. Sources told Fox News that by placing all responsibility on the food market, the Chinese authorities tried to hide the laboratory’s guilt. At the same time, this country began to spread propaganda with accusations against the USA and Italy.
Representatives of the American embassy in January 2018 warned that security measures were not followed in the laboratory of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. They passed on information about scientists who conducted risky studies on bats infected with coronavirus, as reported by the Washington Post on Tuesday.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said the following: “You should not be surprised that we were very interested in this, and that we had a lot of intelligence information on this subject, which we carefully studied. I would also say that at the moment it is ambiguous. The totality of evidence indicates natural causes, but we don’t know for sure.”
“Even today, I see that they are hiding information, and it seems to me that we should continue to pressure them to share it with us,” said Defense Minister Mark Esper on Wednesday, referring to the Chinese. Esper added that he would not talk about intelligence reports, but “most people think it started naturally, organic, if you like. “I think that in due time, when we survive the pandemic, we will have the opportunity to look back and check what really happened in order to better understand how to prevent this in the future.”
Speaking on television on Wednesday evening, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo remarked: “We know that the virus arose in Wuhan. We know that the Wuhan Institute of Virology is just a few miles from the food market. Much remains to be seen. You should know that the United States government is working hard on this to find out. ”
Touching on telegrams from the State Department with warnings about the Wuhan laboratory, Pompeo said that there were a lot of “acutely infectious materials” at this facility. “We knew about it,” said Pompeo. – We knew that they were working on this program, many countries have such programs. If a country is open and transparent, it has the ability to control such facilities and provide security there. She lets in outside observers there, so that they can make sure that everything is in order, that all the rules and norms are being observed. It is unfortunate that this did not happen in that place. ”
The Americans initially trained the Chinese in a program called PREVENT (Prevention), but that was long before they started working with coronavirus. France helped the Chinese create a laboratory in Wuhan.
According to sources, China “completely hid” and replaced data. Samples were destroyed, contaminated sites were decontaminated, initial reports were deleted, and scientific articles were seized.
Doctors and journalists disappeared, warning about the spread of the virus, its infectivity and the fact that it is transmitted from person to person. China quickly closed its exit from Wuhan to other parts of the country, but did not cancel international flights from Wuhan airport.
In addition, sources told Fox News that the World Health Organization from the very beginning helped China cover its tracks.
Speaking at the White House Tuesday at a coronavirus briefing, Trump announced that the US would immediately end WHO funding, saying the organization “put political correctness above life-saving measures.” The United States makes the largest contribution to the WHO budget, and the State Department had previously planned to transfer $ 893 million to the organization for the current biennium.
Administration officials also told Fox News that on Thursday the president will present a plan to resume economic activity in the US. First, he will tell the governors about him, and then inform the press.
Meanwhile, the actions of Trump to overcome the crisis attracted a lot of attention. So, on January 24, he praised China on Twitter for his “transparency” in coronavirus issues.
Sources explained these comments, although they did not speak on behalf of the president. According to them, it was diplomatic courtesy for the Chinese to “feel better.” However, the investigation continued, and at the same time there were trade and other negotiations.
Six days after senior Chinese leaders secretly concluded that the country was facing a pandemic of a new coronavirus, Wuhan made a big feast for tens of thousands of people at the epicenter of the disease. And millions went all over the country to celebrate the New Year according to the lunar calendar.
Chairman Xi Jinping warned the population on the seventh day, January 20. But by this time over 3,000 people had been infected during the week of silence, as evidenced by the Associated Press received official documents and expert estimates based on retrospective data.
“It’s monstrous,” said epidemiologist Zuo-Feng Zhang, who works at the University of California, Los Angeles. – If they had started to act six days earlier, there would have been much fewer patients, and there would have been enough space in medical institutions for everyone. We could have avoided the collapse of the health system in Wuhan.”
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