China hits back as Biden steps up probe into origin of Covid virus

President Joe Biden has asked US intelligence services to find the origin of the coronavirus (Evan Vucci/AP)

China has accused the Biden administration of playing politics and shirking its responsibility in calling for a renewed investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic that was first detected in China in late 2019.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a daily briefing on Tuesday that President Joe Biden’s order showed the US “does not care about facts and truth, nor is it interested in serious scientific origin tracing”.