Trump claims “convincing evidence” that covid-19 came from lab in Wuhan
US President Donald Trump claims that he has faced “convincing evidence,” showing that the coronavirus comes from a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan. He said that at a press conference on Thursday, without sharing that evidence with the media present. The President also threatened to introduce new import duties on Chinese goods.
Trump told reporters that, thanks to the evidence he has seen, he is almost certain that the Wuhan lab is the source of the virus outbreak. The President declined to provide details of the data that led him to believe that. According to the Republican, that would not be possible yet, because research into the lab is still ongoing.
“What happened is terrible,” said Trump, who previously criticized China for the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak. “Either they made a mistake, or it started as a mistake, and then they made another one. Or did someone do something on purpose?”
The lung virus first appeared in Wuhan at the end of last year. The metropolis was locked for two months to prevent it from spreading. The Wuhan Institute of Virology, the lab where Trump believed the outbreak started, has denied the allegations.
Intelligence services: virus not human-made
The US intelligence community has determined that the virus is not human-made or genetically modified. The head of the community, which consists of seventeen services, announced this on Thursday.
The intelligence services are further investigating the origin of the virus. This should show whether the outbreak was due to contact with infected animals or whether it was the result of an accident in the laboratory in Wuhan.
Most experts believe the virus originated in a wild animal market in Wuhan. The lung virus is said to have passed from animal to human.
