“We’ll hold those responsible accountable”: US claims virus came from Wuhan lab
The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has claimed there was “enormous evidence” the new coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory, but did not provide any of the alleged evidence.
Pompeo, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said on Sunday there was “enormous” and “significant” evidence that the coronavirus outbreak began in a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
“I think the whole world can see now, remember, China has a history of infecting the world and running substandard laboratories,” Pompeo told ABC’s This Week.
“President Trump is very clear: we’ll hold those responsible accountable.”
At first, Pompeo said he believed “the best experts so far seem to think it was man-made”.
But he later said he agreed with the “wide scientific consensus” from the US intelligence community that “the COVID-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified”.
Pompeo’s statement indicated an escalation in rhetoric amid the country’s tensions with China.
US President Donald Trump made a similar unsupported claim on Thursday, saying that he had proof the pandemic started in a Chinese laboratory.
On the same day, Pompeo said in an interview: “We don’t know if it came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. We don’t know if it emanated from the wet market or yet some other place. We don’t know those answers.”
Most epidemiologists believe the virus was likely introduced from bats to humans through an intermediary animal.
The US had confirmed more than 1.15 million coronavirus cases and 67,000 deaths as of Monday, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre.
Trump has faced widespread criticism for having overseen a “slow and ineffective“ response to the pandemic as states and cities continue to appeal for more federal help in increasing testing capacity and propping up the economy.