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Antony Blinken calls upon China to allow new Covid origin probe
In the call with Blinken, Yang Jiechi said, China supports cooperation but won’t tolerate what he said were attempts to smear China, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Secretary of state Antony Blinken pressed his Chinese counterpart in a phone call on Friday to allow a new expert-led study into the origin of Covid-19, but China’s top diplomat called theories that the coronavirus leaked from a Wuhan lab an absurd story, according to readouts from both sides.
In the call with Politburo member Yang Jiechi, Blinken “stressed the importance of cooperation and transparency regarding the origin of the virus, including the need for WHO Phase 2 expert-led studies in China”, the US state department said in a statement.
Yang said China supports cooperation but won’t tolerate what he said were attempts to smear China, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Also, US health officials are investigating reports of heart inflammation in male teens and young adults after they get a second dose of the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines. It’s not clear if the heart inflammation is caused by the shots, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The UK government said on Friday the Delta variant of the virus is 60% more transmissible in households compared to the Alpha variant, first identified in Kent, southeast England.
