"Harbin Cluster COVID-19 Virus Originated from the United States"

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Park Sun-mi] China is claiming, based on genome sequence analysis of COVID-19 infected patients, that the origin of COVID-19 may be the United States, not China.

According to the Global Times on the 29th, Zhang Xue, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and dean of Harbin Medical University, revealed the genome sequence analysis results of local COVID-19 patients at a press conference held by the Heilongjiang provincial government the day before. The analysis of genome sequence data from 21 COVID-19 patients who experienced a cluster outbreak in Harbin showed that the patients' genome sequences were more than 99.99% identical, indicating a single source of infection and confirming that the virus was clearly different from the COVID-19 virus previously found in China.

Dean Zhang explained, "This means that the COVID-19 virus can have multiple origins," adding, "The virus infecting the COVID-19 patients in Harbin is judged to have been imported from abroad. The genome sequence of this virus is clearly different from the virus that had spread among Chinese people previously."

China is identifying the cluster infection of COVID-19 in Harbin as having started from a Chinese woman named Han who returned from the United States on the 19th of last month. The fact that the virus genome sequences from Harbin patients differ from those of previously infected patients in China allows for the interpretation that the Harbin cluster infection patients were infected with a virus originating from the United States.

Yang Zhan-chu, deputy director of the Institute of Virology at Wuhan University School of Medicine, also stated, "The genome sequence analysis disclosed this time increases the possibility that the COVID-19 virus has multiple origins," adding, "It means there are two or more sources of the virus worldwide. This shows that the claim that Wuhan, Hubei Province, is the origin of COVID-19 is unfounded, and Wuhan is only the place where COVID-19 patients were first reported."

He further argued, "Considering that some Americans who died from influenza last year were infected with COVID-19, the COVID-19 virus may have originated in the United States."

Research results suggesting that the COVID-19 outbreak in France in February did not come directly from China have also been presented, so China is expected to actively refute the claim that the origin of COVID-19 is China based on various circumstances. On the other hand, the international community still regards China as the origin of the COVID-19 outbreak and is pressuring China to take responsibility for the spread. U.S. President Donald Trump has been raising the 'China responsibility theory' regarding the COVID-19 situation day after day. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also urged at a press conference on the 21st that an international investigation into the origin of COVID-19 should be conducted transparently.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.