Nurses in protective gear handle a nasal swab sample as they test people in their vehicles outside Life Care Center of Kirkland, a long-term care facility linked to several confirmed coronavirus cases, in Kirkland, Washington, U.S. March 14, 2020.
A conspiracy theory that the United States military were the ones that could have brought the novel coronavirus, the causative agent of COVID-19 to China, rather than it originating in Wuhan was promoted by a Chinese official.
Chinese Foreign Minister Zhao Lijian took it to Twitter and posted to his at leat 300,000 followers a video of the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield during his address to a US Congressional Committee on the 11th of March.
The clip featured Redfield saying that there have been deaths recorded in the US which were primarily identified as due to influenza that have been later on confirmed were cases of COVID-19.
2/2 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! pic.twitter.com/vYNZRFPWo3 — Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) March 12, 2020
Whilst Redfield did not indicate the particular period that those people died, Zhao remarked that the statements support the conspiracy theories that the novel coronavirus did not originate in Hubei Province, China. However, he was not able to provide further evidentiary support to his claims.
The lack of evidence, however, did not stop Zhao from questioning the CDC and implying that the U.S. army brought the epidemic to Wuhan after hundreds of U.S. military athletes went to Wuhan in october to participate in the Military World Games. He also called out the United States government, saying that it owes people and explanation and to publicize their data.
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Meanwhile, Geng Shuang a fellow Foreign Ministry Spokesman of Zhao said on Friday that the international community has varied opinions regarding the origin of the virus that has already caused a pandemic. He also stressed that even if China considers the claim as a scientific question, they believe that there is a right avenue to express such opinions in a scientific and professional way. He, however, avoided the questions asking if Zhao's tweets represented the views of the Chinese government on the issue.
Theories on COVID-19's origin
Since the first cases of infections were reported in Wuhan, it was assumed that it was the ground zero for the virus. It is also in the same city where the infections are most dense compared to anywhere in the world.
However, the origin of the coronavirus which has infected more than 150,000 world wide has been repeatedly questioned by Chinese netizens and the country's government. It also appeared that there have been campaigns launched to question the real origin of the virus.
On March 4, Zhao spoke at a press conference in Beijing and informed reporters that Chinese scientists are still tracing the origins of the virus and that there is still no conclusion that has been reached.
In addition, Zhong Nanshan a renowned Chinese expert in infectious diseases, also wuestioned the origins of the virus back in February. He said that even if the first case was spotted in Wuhan, this does not immediately imply that that is where the virus came from.
Late in December 2019, the novel coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan, China, at the moment the outbreak of the virus has spread around the world and caused a pandemic which has killed more than 5,600 and has infected more than 150,000 globally.
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