US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said "enormous evidence" showed the new coronavirus originated in a lab in China, further fueling tensions with Beijing over its handling of the outbreak.
China denies the claims and a recent report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said it concurred with “the wide scientific consensus” that the disease was not man-made.
“There is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan,” Mr Pompeo told ABC’s “This Week,” referring to the virus that emerged late last year in China and has killed about 240,000 people around the world, including more than 67,000 in the United States.
Mr Pompeo then briefly contradicted a statement issued last Thursday by the top US spy agency that said the virus did not appear to be man-made or genetically modified. That statement undercut conspiracy theories promoted by anti-China activists and some supporters of President Donald Trump who suggest it was developed in a Chinese government biological weapons laboratory.
“The best experts so far seem to think it was man-made. I have no reason to disbelieve that at this point,” Mr Pompeo said.
When the interviewer pointed out that was not the conclusion of US intelligence agencies, Mr Pompeo backtracked, saying: “I’ve seen what the intelligence community has said. I have no reason to believe that they’ve got it wrong.”
Medical workers at a coronavirus detection lab in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province. Source: AAP
'We are assured the virus is natural in origin'
The World Health Organization reiterated on Friday that the new coronavirus was of natural origin after US President Donald Trump claimed he had seen evidence it originated in a Chinese lab.
Scientists believe the killer virus jumped from animals to humans, emerging in China late last year, possibly from a market in Wuhan selling exotic animals for meat.
WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan stressed that the UN health agency had "listened again and again to numerous scientists who have looked at the sequences" of the virus.
"We are assured that this virus is natural in origin," he said, reiterating a stance the UN agency has expressed previously.
Armed demonstrators demand action
US news reports said Mr Trump has tasked US spies to find out more about the origins of the virus, as he makes China's handling of the pandemic a centerpiece of his campaign for the November presidential election.
The United States has the highest death toll in the world, 67,155 people have died, and Mr Trump is keen for a turnaround to help reduce the economic pain, with tens of millions left jobless.
Florida is set to ease its lockdown on Monday, as other states wrestle with pressure from demonstrators - some armed - who have rallied against the restrictions.
A protester carries his rifle at the State Capitol in Michigan. Source: AP
There are signs the pandemic is slowing in some parts of the United States.
In New York, the epicentre of the US outbreak, an emergency field hospital erected in Central Park is set to close as virus cases decline.
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