The United States announced the opening of an investigation to uncover the source of the emerging corona virus, without ruling out that a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan would be the source of its outbreak, causing the Covid-19 pandemic that has so far caused more than 137,000 deaths in the world.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, "We are conducting a detailed investigation with all of our capabilities on how this virus has spread, the transmission of infection in the world and the cause of this tragedy."
Pompeo's comments came on Wednesday evening in response to a question about an article in the Washington Post confirming that the US embassy in Beijing had notified the US State Department, two years ago, of insufficient preventive measures in a laboratory in Wuhan, which studies the corona viruses in bats.
Pompeo was asked about information from "Fox News" that "several sources" consider that the current Corona virus, which was announced in December for its first appearance in Wuhan itself, comes from this particular laboratory, and if it is a natural virus not installed by the Chinese, it may be "Leak" involuntarily, but as a result of improper preventive measures.
Pompeo did not deny either of these accounts.
And Wednesday, during his daily press conference on the developments of the Corona virus in the United States, US President Donald Trump avoided going into this issue.
In response to a question about this, Trump said, "I can say that this version is being heard more and more. We will see," stressing that the United States is "conducting a very in-depth investigation."
But he refused to disclose if he discussed the status of this laboratory with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
According to expert opinions, the new Corona virus was registered or appeared in late 2019 in an open-air wild animal market in Wuhan, where various live animals, including mice, giant lizards and bats, are offered for sale.
But Fox News is different.
"What we do know is that this virus was born in Wuhan, China," Pompeo stressed. "What we do know is that the Institute of Virology in Wuhan is located just a few kilometers from the market."