Intelligence officials in the United States have said that a
Chinese firm, with close ties to the government of the country, attempted to
collect the DNA and related data from American citizens towards the beginning
of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a report by CBS, BGI Group, the largest biotech
firm in the world, offered to build up and run COVID-19 testing centres in
Washington, having contacted its Governor after the first major outbreak in the
US. Reportedly, the firm made a similar attempt to establish centres in five
other states, including New York and California.

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Bill Evanina, top counterintelligence official in the US at
the time, at the time authorised a public warning which stated that “Foreign
powers can collect, store and exploit biometric information from COVID
tests”, leading to the offer being accepted by none of the states.

“This shows the nefarious mindset of the Communist
Party of China, to take advantage of a worldwide crisis like COVID,”
Evanina, a veteran of both the FBI and CIA, is quoted as saying regarding BGI’s
offer, which, according to him, is directly linked to the ruling Chinese Communist
Party.

“We put out an advisory to not only every American, but
to hospitals, associations, and clinics. Knowing that BGI is a Chinese company,
do we understand where that data’s going?” Evanina further said, as per
CBS.

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Reportedly, the logic behind Evanina’s thought lies steeped
in a strategic control of biodata, and collective medical records of US
citizens being handled by a foreign power such as China, who can potentially gain
a monopoly over drugs to treat said citizens.

BGI Group, however, is stated to have denied the allegations
of trying to gain bio-supremacy, and said in a statement that “the notion
that the genomic data of American citizens is in any way compromised through
the activities of BGI in the U.S. is groundless”, further identifying itself a ‘private
organisation’ which has been “founded to benefit human health and
wellbeing.”