China should allow research into the origin of COVID-19
China should welcome further research into the origins of COVID-19, Canada’s health minister told the Star on Wednesday, saying the current evidence is “mixed”.
Jean-Yves Duclos spoke to the Star’s Moira Welsh in the wake of media reports that the US Department of Energy ruled with “little confidence” that the pandemic started with a lab leak in China.
The secret report of the department has not been made public.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the US National Security Council said Monday that there is no consensus in the intelligence community about how COVID-19 started.
“It’s important to know the truth of this story,” Duclos said Wednesday. “Where COVID-19 started is important in understanding a) why it started there and b) what the risk of future pandemics may be.”
He said the evidence gathered so far is “mixed”.
“And not only is it mixed, but there’s little confidence in the evidence that exists now,” he said.
“It would of course be welcome and very good if China allowed international organizations, including the WHO, to conduct further investigations. But unfortunately that does not happen.”
China argued Tuesday that it has been “open and transparent” when it comes to COVID-19, which the US government has disputed, the Associated Press reported. China also again balked at any suggestion that the pandemic started with a lab leak.
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