China rejects WHO plan for new phase of study into coronavirus origin

Zeng Yixin, Vice Minister of China’s National Health Commission (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

China cannot accept the World Health Organisation’s plan for the second phase of a study into the origins of Covid-19, a senior Chinese health official said.

Zeng Yixin, the vice minister of the National Health Commission, said he was “rather taken aback” that the plan includes further investigation of the theory that the virus might have leaked from a Chinese lab.