China used air travel to ‘seed’ virus in early-stage: White House trade advisor

DHARAMSALA, 20 May: China “sent hundreds of thousands” on aircraft throughout the world to “seed” the spread of the coronavirus, a White House advisor has said.

“Chinese—behind the shield of the World Health Organization—for two months hid the virus from the world and then sent hundreds of thousands of Chinese on aircraft to Milan, New York and around the world to seed that. They could have kept it in Wuhan, but instead, it became a pandemic,” Peter Navarro, the White House trade adviser has stated in an interview on ABC News’ This Week.

Navarro, when asked by the George Stephanopoulos, the host of the program, whether he was accusing Beijing of deliberately spreading the virus has however replied that “he was not implying that it was intentional,” reports the Fox News.

The senior official from the White House has made the remarks on Sunday when WHO’s member states were calling for “impartial, independent and comprehensive” probe into the origin of Covid-19 and a review of the World Health Organisation’s response to the pandemic.

Chinese leaders “intentionally concealed the severity” of the pandemic from the world in early January, the report added Citing a four-page Department of Homeland Security intelligence report dated 1 May obtained by The Associated Press, the report added.

Further, China “increased imports and decreased exports of medical supplies,” the report said citing the DHS analysis marked not classified but “for official use only.

Meanwhile, China stands accused of initially underreporting its caseload in Wuhan, the epicentre of the Pandemic that has now caused 323,413 deaths.