Washington, United States
Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, noted Sunday that China has not provided “enough original data” on the origin and subsequent spread of the coronavirus, which has been contracted by more than 28 million Americans.
“They are about to publish a report on the origins of the pandemic in Wuhan, China, about which we have questions, because we do not believe that China has made available enough original data on how this pandemic began to spread in both the China and then around the world, “the official said on CBS News'” Face the Nation. “
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On February 9, the World Health Organization (WHO) mission investigating the coronavirus in Wuhan ruled out the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 had originated in a laboratory at the same time as consider it possible that the virus had reached China from other countries through the cold chain of frozen foods.
Faced with the controversy raised by the announcement of the mission, the WHO Director of Health Emergencies Mike Ryan, Replied on February 15 that the purpose of this visit was not to “investigate China” but to learn lessons for the future.
But Sullivan pointed out that “the only way to have science-based research is to have access to all the data and not just to know what happened in that pandemic, but to be able to prevent future pandemics.”
“I am not in a position to say how covid – 19 came into this world,” he added White House official. All I am able to do is ask the WHO to do its best. “
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In this context, he argued that WHO research “should be left in the hands of scientists and experts so that it can be carried out without any interference from any government”, considering that this “is the ‘the only way we’re going to know what the origins of this are.’
He also referred to a conversation that the American leader held on February 10 with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, and which lasted for two hours.
“President Biden raised the issue of covid-19 and the need for all countries to take responsibility for helping to protect the world, including China, ”Sullivan argued.
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The national security adviser clarified that Washington not “is in a position to make a determination as to where the pandemic originated,” which he attributed in part “to the fact that there has not been sufficient transparency on the part of the Chinese Government.”
And when asked about the administration of now former President Donald Trump, he opined that “the pandemic was not taken as seriously as it should have been.”
The United States is the country most affected by the pandemic, With more than 28 million infected and nearly 500,000 dead, according to the independent count of Johns Hopkins University.