CHINA ACCUSES U.S. OF PEDDLING CONSPIRACIES

BEIJING: China on Wednesday accused the US of “spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation” as the theory resurfaced that the coronavirus emerged from a Wuhan laboratory, while urging Washington to open its virology facilities to scrutiny.

Led by the US, pressure is mounting for a new probe into the origins of Covid-19 after a World Health Organization mission to China, beset by delays and dogged by political baggage, returned inconclusive findings.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology has returned to the spotlight after a report in The Wall Street Journal, citing US intelligence, said three lab workers there were hospitalised in November 2019 with coronavirus-like symptoms, a month before the pandemic’s first declared case.

Repeating an earlier denial of the report, Zhao Lijian, spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, accused the US of “spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation such as a laboratory leak”. Zhao said it was “disrespectful” to the WHO probe to revive the theory.