Trump says there is information indicating Coronavirus originated from Chinese lab; Australian PM Scott Morrison distances himself from the comment

President Donald Trump on Thursday April 30, alleged that there is evidence indicating that the Wuhan Institute of Virology is behind Coronavirus outbreak.

The US President disclosed this when a reporter asked if he has “seen anything at this point that gives a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the origin of this virus?”

Trump said in response; 

“Yes, I have. Yes, I have. And I think the World Health Organization [WHO] should be ashamed of themselves because they’re like the public relations agency for China.

Asked later to clarify his comment, he said: “I can’t tell you that. I’m not allowed to tell you that.”

He also told reporters;

“Whether they [China] made a mistake, or whether it started off as a mistake and then they made another one, or did somebody do something on purpose?

“I don’t understand how traffic, how people weren’t allowed into the rest of China, but they were allowed into the rest of the world. That’s a bad, that’s a hard question for them to answer.”

This however contradicted the US national intelligence director’s office statement, in which it disclosed that no assessment has been carried out to determine if Coronavirus “began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.”

CNN reported that though the intelligence community has been wary to share details about the demands coming from the Trump administration, officials have told allies that the situation on the inside is alarming. 

New York Times had also reported that a number of top officials in the Trump administration have pushed US intelligence agencies looking into the origin of the novel coronavirus, to “hunt for evidence” linking the virus to a Chinese laboratory.

Washington Post had also reported that the Trump administration is looking into ways to punish China financially. Discussions reportedly include allowing the US government to sue China for damages or cancelling debt obligations.

Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison however distanced himself from Donald Trump’s allegation that the coronavirus outbreak began in a Wuhan laboratory. He told reporters in Canberra that Australia had seen no “hard evidence” the virus started at the institute.

Morrison said; 

“What we have before us doesn’t suggest that [the Wuhan lab] is the likely source. There is nothing that we have that indicates that is the likely source. 

“Now, you can’t rule anything out in these environments. We know it started in China, we know it started in Wuhan. 

“The most likely scenario canvassed relates to wildlife wet markets, but that’s a matter that would have to be thoroughly assessed.”

Since Coronavirus emerged from China late last year, it has killed 230,000 people worldwide including 63,000 in the US. Over 3.2 million people have been infected worldwide and a million of them are Americans.