Germany Asks China to “Clarify the Origin” of The Coronavirus

“The whole world wants the exact origin of the virus to be clarified,” said the German foreign minister, Heiko Mass.

THE German Foreign Minister and Social Democrat Heiko Maas, has called on China to give a “clarification of the origin” of the new coronavirus.

“The whole world wants the exact origin of the virus to be clarified,” Maas said in an interview with the German media group Funke. China can now demonstrate “how transparent it wants to be with the virus” he added.

The United States has already openly questioned the origin of the coronavirus and has accused China of concealing information in regards to the origin of the virus. Beijing’s official version is that the virus was transmitted to humans at a wild animal market in the city of Wuhan, in the centre of the country.

Other countries have joined Washington in requesting greater transparency and the World Health Organisation (WHO) has also asked to participate in the investigation regarding the origin of the coronavirus.

The WHO insisted last Friday that contrary to the suspicions maintained by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, “all the available evidence” points to an animal origin as the source of the global coronavirus pandemic. However, the agency has offered to participate in the investigations “at the invitation of the Chinese government.”

Donald Trump questions the official theory about the virus having originated in Wuhan, even disputing the study made by of his own Intelligence forces. The WHO has reiterated that “all the available evidence to date suggests that the virus has a natural animal origin and has not been tampered with or manufactured.”

The organisation has pointed out that the jump from the virus to humans did not have to directly occur from a bat, since there is “limited” contact with this species, but rather it is “more likely” that there was another “intermediate” animal, either domestic or wild, which acted as a transmitter.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the United States released a statement on Thursday which concluded that there was a “broad scientific consensus” that that the virus “was not manufactured by humans or genetically modified.” Therefore, the only aspect that would have needed clarification was “whether the outbreak started from contact with infected animals or as a result of an accident in a Wuhan laboratory.”

However, hours later Trump said that he had information, which he could not reveal, that pointed the other way. ” There are many theories. Let’s see where it is and see where it comes from,” said the US president, who again threatened to retaliate against the Asian giant for causing the pandemic.

Written by

Laura Kemp

Originally from UK, Laura is based in Axarquia and is a writer for the Euro Weekly News covering news and features. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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