Claims promoted by President Trump that the novel coronavirus was leaked by a Wuhan lab is “pure fabrication,” says the institute’s chief.
- More than 5.3 million cases have been recorded globally and at least 342,000 people have died with COVID-19
- China says those planning compensation claims against Beijing over the pandemic are living in a “dream world”
- Brazil has overtaken Russia in terms of cases, to become the second hardest-hit in the world, with almost 350,000 reported infections
- Spain has pledged to allow tourism from July; La Liga has been given the green light to resume from June 8
12:40 Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi has said Trump’s administration is tarnishing relations with Beijing with what it calls a smear campaign over coronavirus, and that China and the US are coming close to a new cold war.
Longstanding tensions between the administrations of US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have worsened in recent weeks over the coronavirus pandemic and China’s recent proposal for imposing new security legislation in Hong Kong, which Wang said should be imposed “without the slightest delay.”
“Aside from the devastation caused by the novel coronavirus, there is also a political virus spreading through the US,” Wang said. “It has come to our attention that some political forces in the US are taking China-US relations hostage and pushing our two countries to the brink of a new Cold War,” the French news agency AFP quoted Wang as saying. The diplomat did not identify the “forces” to which he was referring.
11:30 The Food and Drug Administration in the Philippines has warned the public against injecting an anti-viral drug after social media posts claimed it was “the COVID-19 buster.”
The FDA issued a cease-and-desist order against the use of the Fabunan anti-viral injection, developed by a US-based Filipino physician Ruben Fabunan. The order came amid reports that more people were buying the medication.
Philippines Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said there was no record of the drug being registered with the FDA. The Fabunan Medical Clinic said in a post on its Facebook page that the drug was “not commercially sold” but has been “used excessively” by doctors at the facility.
Air traffic between Israel and Turkey ceased in 2010 due to tensions between the two countries. According to the Jerusalem Post, El Al has received permission from the Turkish government to conduct two flights this week.
10:05 Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says any lawsuits brought against China over coronavirus pandemic have “zero factual basis in law or international precedence.” He told reporters on Sunday that China was a victim of the global pandemic alongside other countries and had reached out to assist other governments in need.
“To our regret, in addition to the raging of the new coronavirus, a political virus is also spreading in the US which is to take every chance to attack and discredit China,” Wang said. “Some US politicians, heedless of basic facts, have fabricated too many lies and plotted too many conspiracies,” he added. The minister was referring to US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the virus that causes COVID-19 was leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the respiratory illness first emerged.
Wang said those who would bring such litigation against China are “living in a daydream and will humiliate themselves.” Last month, the US state of Missouri said it was suing the Chinese government over its handling of the coronavirus which it said had led to severe economic losses.