Politics

G-7 Nations Call For WHO-Led Investigation Into COVID-19 Origins In China

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Anders Hagstrom White House Correspondent
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G-7 nations filed a joint statement calling for a “timely” investigation into the origins of COVID-19 in China on Sunday.

The leaders of G-7 nations published a “shared agenda” on Sunday, the final day of the summit in the U.K. The agenda detailed dozens of initiatives, but also called for the World Health Organization (WHO) to lead an investigation into whether COVID-19 leaked from a research lab in China.

“We also call for a timely, transparent, expert-led, and science-based WHO-convened Phase 2 COVID-19 Origins study including, as recommended by the experts’ report, in China,” the statement read. (RELATED: Infectious Disease Expert Told Fauci In January 2020 That COVID-19 Looked Potentially ‘Engineered’)

Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli is seen inside the P4 laboratory in Wuhan, capital of China’s Hubei province, on February 23, 2017. – The P4 epidemiological laboratory was built in co-operation with French bio-industrial firm Institut Merieux and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. (JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images)

President Joe Biden has called for an international investigation into COVID origins, but the White House has said in the past that the U.S. should not lead the investigation. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki echoed the G-7 in May, saying the WHO is the “appropriate body” for such an investigation.

Biden has ordered the U.S. intelligence community to conduct a 90-day “review” of existing evidence on whether COVID-19 originated from a Chinese lab. The White House has said the U.S. review can happen alongside a potential WHO investigation.

“This is something that was ongoing. This is something that has been going on since March. The WHO doing their thing and the I.C. doing what they’re doing currently is not mutually exclusive. This is something that can happen at the same time,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said May 27.