Transparent research into COVID-19 origins needs to go beyond Wuhan, says observer

MEXICO CITY, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- The United States continues its drive to pin the blame for the COVID-19 pandemic on China despite scientific evidence, according to Dominican economist Eduardo Klinger Pevida.

In a recent op-ed article in the Dominican daily Hoy, Klinger noted that an international panel of experts gathered by the World Health Organization (WHO) "found no evidence" that the novel coronavirus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, as Washington claims.

However, the United States has kept pressing the WHO to once again send investigators to Wuhan, citing the need for openness and transparency.

It appears Washington would have the panel "contradicting science" to not only discredit China but also deflect from its own possible role in unleashing the pandemic, Klinger said in the article headlined "Fort Detrick, biological laboratories and viruses as weapons,"

In the Western media there have been reports of "'suspicious' outbreaks of lung disease with symptoms similar to COVID-19 in the vicinity of Fort Detrick and the USAMRIID -- United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases, a very important military facility for biological warfare," said Klinger.

In addition, "North American media registered several thousand suspected cases of COVID-19 from July to December 2019," prior to the global outbreak of the disease, he added.

China has called for an investigation into these reports, but so far its concerns have not been taken up, said Klinger.

In the interest of openness and transparency, he suggested that these incidents be investigated.