ISLAMABAD – In wake of a public admission by US official that some Americans who seemingly died from influenza were tested positive for novel Coronavirus in the posthumous diagnosis, China on Thursday asked the US administration to come clean on the origin of novel Coronavirus.
In the video posted by the People’s Daily, Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is asked whether there may have been deaths attributed to influenza that could actually have been the result of Covid-19. Redfield responds in the affirmative: “Some cases have been actually diagnosed that way in the United States today.”
Redfield’s vague answer was enough to add fuel to a conspiracy theory that has been gaining traction over the past two weeks in China – that the coronavirus did not originate in China but may have come from the US instead.
Mr Zhao Lijian, a spokesman of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, posted several tweets on the social media site, Twitter, asking when did patient zero begin in the US?
“CDC Director Robert Redfield admitted some Americans who seemingly died from influenza were tested positive for novel #coronavirus in the posthumous diagnosis, during the House Oversight Committee Wednesday,” said a tweet posted with hashtag #COVID19.
“CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!,” Zhao Lijian posted another tweet.
“Some #influenza deaths were actually infected with #COVID-19, Robert Redfield from US #CDC admitted at the House of Representatives. US reported 34 million cases of influenza and 20,000 deaths. Please tell us how many are related to COVID-19,” asked Zhao Lijian.
The debate soon went viral at the Chinese microblog Weibo with the one-minute clip of Robert Redfield at the US congressional hearing on how the country was dealing with the Coronavirus.
“The US has finally acknowledged that among those who had died of the influenza previously were cases of the coronavirus. The true source of the virus was the US!” one commentator said. “The US owes the world, especially China, an apology,” another said. “American coronavirus,” a Weibo user wrote.
The theory has gained traction over the past few weeks, after a respected epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan, said in a passing remark at a press conference on 27 February that although the virus first appeared in China “it may not have originated in China”.
Zhong later clarified his statement, saying that the first place where a disease is discovered does not “equate to it being the source”. He told reporters: “But neither can we conclude that the virus came from abroad. Only through investigation and tracing can we answer that question.”
China’s ambassador to South Africa said last week on Twitter that the virus was not necessarily “made in China”.
An editorial in Xinhua last week also echoed Zhong: “The epidemic was first reported in China but that does not mean it necessarily originated in China … The WHO has said many times that Covid-19 is a global phenomenon with its source still undetermined.”
Officials have framed the campaign as a protest against the “politicisation” of the outbreak by countries such as the US, where some officials have continued to use the terms “Chinese coronavirus” or “Wuhan virus,” despite the World Health Organization’s discouragement.
For weeks, Chinese state media pointed to a seafood market in Wuhan as the likely origin for the virus while researchers said the source had not yet been determined, but few have floated the idea that it came from outside of China.
Meanwhile, China has said that the peak of the current outbreak of novel coronavirus disease in China is over as new cases keep declining and the overall epidemic situation remains at a low level.
Mi Feng, a spokesperson for the National Health Commission said at a press conference in Beijing that the number of new confirmed cases in Wuhan, the epicenter in central China’s Hubei Province, has dropped to a single digit, with only eight cases reported on Wednesday. No new cases had been reported in other cities of Hubei for a week in a row, Mi said.
Only seven new cases were reported on the Chinese mainland outside Hubei, but six were imported from overseas, he added. Mi said the top priority should be given to treating patients and vowed no relaxation or loose efforts in the epidemic prevention and control work.
This developed as the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the COVID-19 outbreak can be characterized as a “pandemic” as the virus spreads increasingly worldwide.
There are now more than 118,000 confirmed cases in 114 countries and regions, and 4,291 people have lost their lives, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in Geneva, noting that the number of coronavirus cases, deaths, as well as affected countries is expected to climb even higher in the days and weeks ahead.
