Do those who dismiss the lab accident origin theory of Covid 19 have a problem with the alternative pushed by the Chinese government itself? That theory is that the virus was imported into China.
Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, said on Monday (Jan. 18) at a press conference that the US should open Fort Detrick, a military medical research base in Maryland, for further investigation as a possible origin of Covid-19. “I’d like to stress that if the United States truly respects facts, it should open the biological lab at Fort Detrick, give more transparency to issues like its 200-plus overseas bio-labs, invite WHO [the World Health Organization] experts to conduct origin-tracing in the United States, and respond to the concerns from the international community with real actions,” she said.
This ‘fact’ is driving Chinese consumers to shun imported frozen food as a source of contagion.
At an upscale supermarket west of Beijing, a box of disposable gloves stands in front of a glass counter selling Australian beef. Next to it is a sign saying: “Please buy this with peace of mind.”
“All the imported meats here have undergone nucleic acid testing. Consumers need not worry,” promises Li Xingzhen, a manager at Ole supermarket, which imports about 70% of its groceries. Her pledge offers a look at the new challenges facing retailers as many Chinese shoppers grow reluctant to buy overseas food products after Covid-19 infections were reported among people handling such items. …
China has gone even further with its frozen food theory, with state media suggesting the virus could have entered the country via frozen products or packaging. This comes as the hunt for the origins of the coronavirus becomes highly politicized, with a WHO team currently in Wuhan to probe further, and the U.S. pushing the idea it could have escaped from a lab in the city — a claim China has denied.
For some months it was settled science that the virus could not have originated in a lab. But even the Chinese don’t believe the wildlife market theory of the origin of the virus any more. “Almost a year has passed since the Huanan wholesale market in Wuhan, China – the suspected source of the Covid-19 pandemic – closed down. Anti-coronavirus measures in place here and at other markets have allowed business to continue, but Chinese authorities now say that imported frozen food, rather than trade in live animals, caused the virus outbreak.”
All of this leaves those who maintain the virus couldn’t have originated in a laboratory in a quandary. Where did it come from then? And how did the previous certitude vanish so suddenly? It is almost as if everyone now realizes that the old story can’t hold up much longer and that some human agency will eventually be blamed, the only question is which.