Chinese Media Accuse U.S. of Importing Coronavirus to Wuhan

A man wearing a face mask as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus walks p
NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images
Gabrielle Reyes

Chinese state media on Wednesday claimed that a recently published U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study, which finds cases of Chinese coronavirus in the U.S. earlier than previously thought but still later than the first Chinese cases, indicates that the pandemic may have originated in the U.S.

A recent study by CDC researchers found that the Chinese coronavirus was present in the U.S. as early as mid-December 2019, about one month after documents revealed that Chinese officials had identified their first case in Wuhan. Published on November 30, the study identified 106 Chinese coronavirus infections from 7,389 blood samples collected from donors across nine U.S. states between December 13 and January 17. Assembled by the American Red Cross, the blood samples were sent to the CDC for testing to determine whether they contained antibodies against the Chinese coronavirus.

“The findings of this report suggest that SARS-CoV-2 [Chinese coronavirus] infections may have been present in the U.S. in December 2019, earlier than previously recognized,” the paper stated.

The CDC-related study’s new findings on Monday suggest that China’s initial coronavirus outbreak likely occurred earlier than officially reported, appearing to support suspicions of a Communist Party cover-up. Chinese state media on Wednesday attempted to divert attention from this revelation by claiming that the study’s findings suggest that the Chinese coronavirus may have originated in the U.S.

“The findings again refresh people’s knowledge of the early existence of the novel coronavirus before Wuhan identified its first case,” China’s state-run Global Times wrote on Wednesday.

“China does not seek to alter the virus origin story as some Western media claimed; it is a fact that China may have been the whistleblower of the pandemic, as mounting academic and official evidence have shown the early existence of the novel coronavirus in multiple places around the world,” the newspaper explained, referencing other unproven reports that the Chinese coronavirus may have been circulating in some European countries prior to December 2019.

“The US study offers one more direction for seeking the virus origin but we cannot draw a conclusion easily as the complicated scientific questions are beyond one or two scientists’ capability to complete, as they require large amounts of data, probably involving various countries,” the Global Times stated, quoting “a Beijing-based public health expert.”

“[S]ome Western media have continuously taken Wuhan as the birthplace of the virus and even slandered China of trying to shirk responsibility. British media the Guardian claimed China is running a ‘propaganda campaign’ that leans toward possible alternative origins,” the newspaper noted.

“The first case of someone in China suffering from Covid-19 [Chinese coronavirus disease], the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, can be traced back to November 17 [2019],” the South China Morning Post reported on March 13 after seeing unpublished Chinese regime data.

The Chinese government claimed in official statements to the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) that China diagnosed its first confirmed coronavirus case on December 8. Police harassed and detained Wuhan doctors who tried to warn colleagues and the public about a new SARS-like virus in late December. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities did not publicly admit that human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus was possible until January 21, at least six days after Chinese health authorities confirmed the crucial fact. Such suppression of information surrounding Wuhan’s initial outbreak has led world health experts and government leaders to accuse Beijing of attempting to cover up the coronavirus’s origins.

China’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly attempted to blame the United States for the pandemic. A Communist party conspiracy theory in May speculated that the Chinese coronavirus pandemic was caused by a U.S. Army lab leaking the virus in Maryland in 2019. Ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao claimed without evidence that deaths related to the use of e-cigarettes in the U.S. last year were in fact early coronavirus cases spawned by this alleged lab leak.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.