Comment by the Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus regarding the publication of the report in the USA on the investigation into the origin of SARS-CoV-2

The US national intelligence released recently an investigation report into the origins of SARS-CoV-2, in which it tries to accuse the People's Republic of China of, if not developing the virus, then harboring information necessary to combat it. This conclusion is made on the basis of the opinion of representatives of the intelligence community, whose professional qualifications in the field of epidemiology and virology remains unknown to us.

At the same time, the authors of this text prefer not to notice the obvious and well-known facts of China's cooperation with international health structures and the international community in general on the topic of combating the spread of SARS-CoV-2. They also ignore the opinion of 80 member states of the World Health Organization, including Belarus, more than 300 political parties, public organizations and think tanks from more than 100 countries and regions, which opposed the politicization of the issue of the source of the virus and supported the joint report of the PRC and WHO on this topic.

What is most important in this purely scientific work is close interaction and interested cooperation of scientists from all over the world. According to WHO estimates, the PRC is taking an active part in it. At the invitation of the Chinese side, WHO experts have twice visited China to carry out research work. Earlier this year, a 28-day joint inspection by Chinese and international experts was held, which resulted in the publication of a report with authoritative scientific findings.

Belarus categorically rejects the politicization and instrumentalization of the pandemic topic. We believe that scientific cooperation, especially in such sensitive for the whole world issues, should be free from any influence and pressure. We are convinced that only coordinated joint international efforts will effectively confront the COVID-19 pandemic.

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