As the novel coronavirus that apparently originated from Wuhan is continuing its killing spree in all nooks of the world, China has bizarrely claimed that the virus has reached the Wuhan market via imported frozen foods from countries including Australia.
China's attempt to come clean
This bizarre claim was made by Global Times, a daily tabloid newspaper under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper.
"As the mounting sporadic outbreaks in China were found to be related to imported cold-chain products, with other parts of the world, including Europe and the American continent, reportedly discovering signs of the coronavirus earlier than Wuhan, it begs a new hypothesis – did the early outbreak in Wuhan originate from imported frozen food? The city also imported Australian steak, Chilean cherries, and Ecuadorian seafood before 2019, according to the information from the website of the city's commerce bureau," wrote Daily Times.
In April, Australian prime minister Scott Morrison had called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the virus, and the move had drawn a furious reaction from China. As relations started deteriorating, China imposed a series of punishing tariffs on Australian trade goods.
Chinese blame game continues
Chinese officials had previously claimed to have detected traces of coronavirus on frozen chicken wings from Brazil, squid from Russia, shrimp from Ecuador, pork from Germany, and salmon from Norway.
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) had dismissed these claims, and they made it clear that there is no evidence of the virus being transmitted this way.
According to the latest updates, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of more than 1.5 million people worldwide, and the total number of positive cases has crossed 67 million. In the United States alone, there are more than 15 million positive cases, followed by India where there are nine million positive coronavirus cases.
