RIA Novosti: FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday that COVID-19 “most likely” came from a Chinese lab leak. Do you have any comment?

Mao Ning: China has noted the reports. I would like to stress two things:

First, China always supports and participates in science-based global origins-tracing of SARS-CoV-2. The origins-tracing is a complex matter of science. This study should be and can only be conducted jointly by scientists around the world. “A laboratory origin of the pandemic was considered to be extremely unlikely” is a science-based, authoritative conclusion reached by the experts of the WHO-China j