China’s Foreign Ministry has implied that the U.S. Army “might be” responsible for taking the coronavirus to Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak first emerged late last year.
In a tweet on Thursday, foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, wrote: “When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals?”
Zhao went on to allege that it “might be [the] US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan.”
“Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation,” he wrote.
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
Days earlier, China’s ambassador to South Africa had claimed that: “Although the epidemic first broke out in China, it did not necessarily mean that the virus originated from China, let alone ‘made in China,” he tweeted.
Although the epidemic first broke out in China, it did not necessarily mean that the virus is originated from China, let alone “made in China”. pic.twitter.com/EVXLkQnyfF
— Chinese Ambassador to South Africa (@AmbLINSongtian) March 7, 2020
The coronavirus outbreak has claimed at least 4,700 lives around the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.