US changes attitude on COVID-19 origins: Australian media

The Biden administration in the US had previously dismissed the idea that the coronavirus is man-made, but President Joe Biden changed his attitude, Australian media outlet The Market Herald has reported.

On Wednesday, Biden gave US intelligence agencies 90 days to report on whether the virus originated from an animal source or from a laboratory accident, calling on China to cooperate with international investigations.

The US' top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci also changed his views, saying he's no longer convinced the virus is naturally occurring - a stark contrast to his stance last May, according to The Market Herald.

Even Facebook has reversed its stance on the origins of COVID-19, announcing it will no longer be banning posts that call the coronavirus "man-made", The Market Herald said.

A research report of the joint WHO-China study had presented authoritative, formal and scientific conclusions, which stressed it is "extremely unlikely" that the virus was leaked from a Chinese laboratory, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a press briefing on Thursday.

However, some people in the United States have repeatedly called for a reinvestigation of China, ignoring the facts and science, Zhao said. This fully shows that the US side doesn't care about the facts or the truth at all, and is not interested in serious scientific origin tracing, he added.

Since the United States has repeatedly asked China to be part of a comprehensive, transparent and evidence-based international investigation, the United States should likewise fully respond to the concerns of the international community, Zhao said.