Urging the international community to demand transparency from China about the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the US has accused Beijing of “obstructing” a World Health Organisation (WHO) probe into the origin of the deadly virus in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and “peddling” questionable vaccines one year after the disease broke out.
The US leads the world with over 17,442,100 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 313,000 deaths.
“Even today, nearly a year after the world first learned of the outbreak, the Chinese Communist Party is still spreading disinformation regarding the virus and obstructing a WHO investigation into its origin and spread,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday.
“It is also peddling vaccines that lack essential data on safety and efficacy, due to a fundamental disregard for transparency and accountability regarding results from clinical trials. Both actions put Chinese citizens, and the world, at risk,” he said.