China rejected the WHO‘s second phase of COVID-19 tracing plan White House: Deeply disappointed

The White House said Thursday it is “deeply disappointed” that China has rejected the World Health Organization’s plan to conduct a second phase of investigation into the origin of the Novel coronavirus, calling the decision “irresponsible and dangerous. “A senior Chinese health official said Thursday that China does not accept the WHO’s traceability plan, saying aspects of it “defy common sense and go against science.”

“When I first saw the WHO’s second phase of traceability, I was very surprised,” Zeng Yixin, vice minister of China’s National Health Commission, said at a news conference at The State Council on Thursday. This is because the hypothesis that China violated laboratory procedures and caused the release of the virus is one of the research priorities.”

In January this year, a WHO international and Chinese expert team conducted a 28-day joint study in China. Zeng said, “China fully supported the work of the WHO expert team and fully met the requirements of who experts. They went to all the units they wanted and met with all the people they wanted to see.”

Earlier, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing with German Health Minister Jens Spahn on July 15 that China needed to be more open and transparent and provide more raw data about when the virus was first discovered. Tedros said the raw data could help explain how the novel coronavirus developed and spread, and prevent its recurrence.

During a Press conference at the White House on Thursday, a reporter asked, “Today, China rejected who’s plan to conduct a second phase of investigation into the origin of the coronavirus, including laboratory and market audits. What was the Reaction from the White House? How does this affect future engagement with China in this regard?” “Let me begin by reiterating that the United States supports WHO’s phase II program, which is committed to ensuring that these studies are scientific, transparent, expert-led, and free from interference,” Psaki replied.

“We certainly saw the comments from the People’s Republic of China, which again rejected phase two of a WHO study,” Psaki said. We are deeply disappointed. Their position is irresponsible and frankly dangerous. She added, “Together with other member states around the world, we continue to call on China to provide the required data and samples. And this is crucial so that we can understand and prevent the next pandemic. It’s about saving lives in the future. And now is not the time to play for time.”