China backs virus case study

Beijing says Washington playing politics and peddling conspiracies of 'lab-leak'

China supports a "comprehensive study" of all early cases of COVID-19 found worldwide and a thorough investigation into some "secretive bases and biological laboratories" all over the world, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the United States said on Wednesday.

The remarks were made at a time when several US officials claimed the investigation on virus-origin tracing in China lacked transparency and called for a strong, comprehensive and expert-led probe on the origins of coronavirus.

The spokesperson noted the conspiracy theory of a "lab leak" is resurfacing, referring to the claim by some that COVID-19 might have escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, Hubei province.