China calls for next-phase origin tracing in various regions, countries

China's State Council Information Office held a news conference on origin-tracing of the COVID-19 virus on Thursday.

Here are the highlights:

- China allowed WHO experts to visit all places they wanted to go and meet all people they wanted to see during the WHO-China joint expert team's visit to Wuhan earlier this year, said Zeng Yixin, vice-minister of the National Health Commission.

- The results of the WHO-China joint study are able to stand the test of time, said Zeng Yixin.

- WHO plan to focus on "lab leak" shows disrespect to common sense and arrogance to science, said Zeng Yixin.

- China cannot accept the current version of the second-phase investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 virus launched by the World Health Organization, for the plan has been compromised by political manipulation and disrespect of scientific facts, said Zeng Yixin. (Read more)

- Zeng Yixin rejects Wuhan institute had three infected workers, carried out gain-of-function research and engineered virus.

- Origin tracing efforts should be carried out more extensively across the world to search for early cases, to carry out molecular epidemiology studies and identify animal reservoirs and intermediate hosts, said Zeng Yixin.

- Not a single leak incident has occurred at the Wuhan P4 lab since it started operation in 2018, said Yuan Zhiming, a researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the director of the National Biosafety Laboratory in Wuhan. (Read more)

- There was zero infection among staff and students at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, said Yuan Zhiming.

- Study on the origin of COVID-19 virus on animals should be the focus of next phase and it should be carried out in countries and regions with bat distribution, said Liang Wannian, the team leader of the Chinese side of the WHO-China joint expert team.

- China did not hide the original data and it's international custom to protect privacy of patients, said Liang Wannian. (Read more)

- The region that reported the earliest cases is not necessarily where the virus jumped from animals to humans, said Liang Wannian.

- Evidence showed the possibility of the virus transmission through cold chain, said Wang Chen, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

- Only by conducting science-based origin-tracing of COVID-19 virus, can we uncover the real truth, said Xu Nanping, vice-minister of Science and Technology.