A SCIENTIST on the WHO's controversial investigation mission to Wuhan has today dismissed US intelligence "wrong on many aspects" about Covid-19.
In an extraordinary outburst Peter Daszak, a British-American expert in pandemics expert, warned people to "trust" Chinese data instead.
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Daszak also accused President Biden of "trying to look tough on China" after a State Department spokesman questioned whether Beijing had been fully open with the WHO fact-find mission.
But it has emerged the organisation which he heads, the EcoHealth Alliance, has reportedly had links with the Wuhan Institute of Virology which is at the centre of the leaked virus claims, reports Mail Online.
And in an article published in The Guardian in July, he argued such theories were bogus.
It came after Mike Pompeo said there was "significant evidence" that Covid-19 originated in a Chinese laboratory as he blasted the "corrupt" WHO.
The former US Secretary of State made the remarks after the World Health Organisation (WHO) insisted the killer coronavirus did NOT come from a lab in Wuhan after a 14-day investigation.
The WHO has been accused of a "whitewash" after appearing to side with the Communist Party by dismissing the theory that Covid came from a Wuhan wet market.
In response to the bombshell findings, Pompeo slammed the UN agency, claiming it had "bended a knee" to Chinese leader Xi Jinping since the start of the pandemic.
He told Fox News: "I must say the reason we left the World Health Organization was because we came to believe that it was corrupt.
"It had been politicised. It was bending a knee to General Secretary Xi Jinping in China.
"I hope that's not the case here with what they've announced today."
The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is the only lab in China which studies bat coronaviruses.
Pompeo, who served as America's top diplomat from 2018 until last month, says there is a strong evidence that the virus originated from the facility.
He said: "I hope they got to see all the data, all the science, into the lab, talk to the doctors, interview them in private, in places where they could actually tell the truth about what took place.
"Not under the supervision of a Communist Party person sitting in the back of the room making sure that they toed the Communist Party line.
"I look forward to seeing their results. I continue to know that there was significant evidence that this may well have come from that laboratory."
Asked how President Joe Biden should treat China, Pompeo said: "We shouldn't worry about General Xi Jinping's feelings.
"We should worry about protecting the American people … We have to confront the challenge that the Chinese Communist Party is presenting to America and to the world."
The highly anticipated WHO news conference on the virus's origins yesterday lasted nearly three hours – but left more questions than it offered answers.
Dr Peter Ben Embarek, the head of the WHO mission, said identifying the origin of the coronavirus remains a "work in progress".
"The findings suggest lab incident hypothesis is extremely unlikely to explain the introduction of the virus into the human population," he said.
The virus was first identified after a person contracted it at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan some 406 days ago.
However, the probe revealed that even the location of the virus's ground zero is now in doubt.
The WHO endorsed the Chinese theory that the original outbreak last December could have been triggered by a virus carried on frozen food.
China has previously claimed the virus has been found hiding in goods from Ecuador, Brazil and Australia.
It has used the suggestion to try and deflect attention from its own handling of the pandemic – with accusations its failures allowed the virus to spread worldwide.
Foreign bats are also being probed as possible origin of Covid as Professor Liang said no bats in the wild in China had been found to be carrying viruses that may have mutated into Covid-19.
The team believe the virus originated in animals – likely bats or pangolins – but the intermediate hosts that allowed it to jump to humans are "yet to be identified".
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