1 year on, US demands China be transparent on pandemic

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US called upon China Friday to be transparent in its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, accusing Beijing of continuing to stymy international efforts while pushing questionable vaccines one year after the pandemic began in Wuhan.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said China is "still spreading disinformation regarding the virus and obstructing a World Health Organization investigation into its origin and spread."

"It is also peddling vaccines that lack essential data on safety and efficacy, due to a fundamental disregard for transparency and accountability regarding results from clinical trials," he said in a statement. "Both actions put Chinese citizens, and the world, at risk."

Pompeo called on all nations to "demand transparency" from China, warning that if they fail to do so "China’s record of public-health crises makes another future pandemic originating from China depressingly likely."

The first case of the novel coronavirus was detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. It has since spread to every corner of the globe, killing over 1.6 million people and infecting more than 75 million others.

The US remains the country with the highest number of known infections, as well as the highest confirmed death toll.