China calls COVID ‘lab leak’ theory a lie after WHO report

BEIJING (AP) — China has attacked the theory that the coronavirus pandemic may have originated as a leak from a Chinese laboratory as a politically motivated lie. The response came after the World Health Organization recommended in its strongest terms yet that a deeper probe is needed into whether a lab accident may be to blame. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson also rejected accusations that China had not been fully cooperative with investigators, saying it welcomed a science-based probe but rejected any political manipulation. He also reiterated calls for an investigation into U.S. laboratories where China has suggested, without evidence, that the U.S. was developing the coronavirus as a bioweapon.