US expects clear and robust international probe on COVID-19 origin: Jen Psaki

The White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that the US is demanding a “clear and robust” international probe to and seeks details about the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic adding that it is imperative to gain knowledge about the spread of the deadly virus, reported AFP. 

Psaki also mentioned “great concern” about the “misinformation” through “some sources in China”. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over two million lives worldwide with over 100 million confirmed positive cases and has significantly hampered the world economy. 

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Earlier this month, a team of experts from the World Health Organization, or WHO, arrived in Wuhan after repeated delays to probe the virus’s origins.

Experts seem to agree on the notion of the virus having an animal origin and have focused their attention on the “wet market” in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which is known for the sale of live animals. 

But former US President Donald Trump supported a theory that the virus could have instead originated in a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, something China rejects, reported AFP. 

Towards the end of his term, Donald Trump’s administration accused the Chinese Communist Party of having a  “deadly obsession with secrecy and control.” The US State Department also claimed that the employees at the lab in Wuhan showed “COVID-19 like symptoms” before the first cases were ever detected in the city. 

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Beijing has countered with arguments that although Wuhan is where the first cluster of cases was detected, it is not necessarily where the virus originated.

The government and state media have even tried to push conspiracy theories about a supposed link to a US biological weapons lab in Maryland, reported AFP. 

Psaki also reaffirmed that the current administration plans to increase US representation on the ground in Beijing and will devote national resources towards the WHO investigation in order to gain a better understanding of the situation.