Almost a year after the outbreak of the pandemic, China is trying to change the history of the origins of Covid. Where Beijing claims the first outbreak | News, foreign news | Freedom

Chinese state media recently massively published articles on coronavirus traces found on frozen food packages imported from various countries, although nowhere in the world has this been considered a significant vector of infection.

The Chinese press also focused on possible cases of the disease discovered outside China’s borders before December 2019.

India, advanced as an option

Last week, the official Peoples Daily said in a Facebook post that “all available evidence suggests that the novel coronavirus did not start in Wuhan, central China.”

When asked about state media articles claiming the virus appeared outside of China, a foreign ministry spokesperson said only that it is important to distinguish between where Covid was first detected and where it was first detected. which the virus has crossed the barriers of the species and has begun to infect humans.

“Although China was the first to report cases, this does not necessarily mean that the virus originated in China,” Zhao Lijian said at a news conference.

Chinese scientists even sent an article for publication to Lancet magazine, claiming that “Wuhan is not the first place where human-to-human transmission of Covid took place.” They suggested that the first case may have been in the “Indian subcontinent”.

Western scientists reject the Beijing hypothesis

Western scientists say these claims are incredible.

Michael Ryan, director of the emergency health program at the World Health Organization (WHO), said last week that it would be “very speculative” to say the disease has not occurred in China.

The professor. Jonathan Stoye, a virologist at the Francis Crick Institute in London, also “dismantled” reports on Covid that the virus began circulating in Italy in the fall of 2019.

“The serological data in Italy can most likely be explained by cross-reactive antibodies directed against other coronaviruses,” he explained.

In other words, the antibodies found in the Italian cases were activated in individuals who had been infected with various coronaviruses, not in those responsible for Covid, the source cited also shows.

Although traces of the coronavirus have been found on frozen food packaging, scientists believe they pose a very low risk for a disease that is thought to be overwhelmingly transmitted through sputum drops while speaking, coughing or sneezing.

However, with the number of infected people and the economic costs of the pandemic rising, China is trying to defend its reputation at home and abroad. To date, the virus has infected more than 60 million people and killed nearly 1.5 million worldwide.

Image washing campaign

After the recovery, by liquidating the Wuhan epidemic, China tried to strengthen its position abroad by offering aid and getting involved in the search for an antidote for Covid. It currently promotes several vaccines that are in the third phase of development and provides assistance to fund immunization actions.

However, resentment over Beijing’s role in triggering the pandemic may ultimately prove more difficult for China to deal with than the disease itself, experts say.

“China is still struggling to hold itself accountable for its ‘original sin’ in this matter, which virtually undermines any effort to save its image,” said Andrew Small, a Chinese scientist and think tank member. German tank Marshall Fund.

“The past few months have shown the catastrophic impact the pandemic has had on China in the eyes of the international public,” he said.

China might be credible if it supports an independent investigation into the origin of the disease, writes The Guardian, but authorities have repeatedly opposed such initiatives.

WHO investigators who visited Wuhan earlier this year were not given permission to enter the food market, which is said to have been the outbreak of Covid. However, a new team of investigators is expected to head to China soon.

Read also:

The UK is about to become the first country to approve the Pfizer COVID vaccine

Education around the world. Students will alternately come to school in the UK, children from one US state take lessons on the Holocaust