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May 25, 2021

China Blasts Wall Street Journal Report Suggesting Coronavirus Escaped from Wuhan Lab
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China's Foreign Ministry has strongly denied a Wall Street Journal
report suggesting the novel coronavirus might have escaped from a
laboratory. The Journal reports that three employees of the Wuhan
Institute of Virology fell ill with COVID-like symptoms in the autumn of
2019 and were hospitalized in November of that year - before the first
recorded case of COVID-19. The Wall Street Journal based its reporting
on a "previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report." China's Foreign
Ministry dismissed the finding.

Zhao Lijian: "The United States continues to hype up the lab leak
theory. Does it care about traceability, or is it just trying to
distract attention?"

In March, the World Health Organization said its investigation into the
origins of the COVID-19 pandemic found it was "extremely unlikely" that
the novel coronavirus emerged from a laboratory. But many scientists are
calling on the WHO to further investigate the possibility.


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