China defends COVID-19 search, criticizes WHO politicization.
Chinese health officials defended their search for the origin of COVID-19 and criticized the World Health Organization (WHO) for suggesting that Beijing should have shared genetic information earlier. The WHO's comments were "offensive and disrespectful," said the director of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The origins of COVID-19 are still debated, with many scientists believing it jumped from animals to humans at a market in Wuhan, but the city also is home to laboratories including China's top facility for collecting viruses, prompting suggestions COVID-19 might have leaked from one.