Corona virus: Is China blocking corona vaccine development?


A US senator has accused China of obstructing Western efforts to develop an effective vaccine against the corona virus.


The statement rekindled the war of words between the United States and China over the corona virus.


Senator Rick Scott said the evidence from "our intelligence" confirms this. However, he did not elaborate on the evidence.


China, meanwhile, released a document defending its anti-virus measures, saying it had begun briefing the United States on Corona on January 4.


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The death toll from Corona on Sunday has topped 400,000.


Figures released by Johns Hopkins University show that the number of confirmed corona victims worldwide now stands at about 7 million.


What did the US senator accuse China of?

Image copyright REUTERS

Image caption

Senator Rick Scott

Republican Senator Rick Scott, who was elected from the US state of Florida, has made new allegations against China while speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marw Show.


Rick Mart is a member of the Armed Services and Homeland Security Committee, among many other Senate committees.


"We have to hurry up and prepare the vaccine," he said. "Unfortunately, we have some evidence that Communist China is happy to undermine and slow down our efforts to develop vaccines."


"China does not want us (the United States), or the United Kingdom or Europe, to take advantage of them," he said. China is determined to oppose democratic governments in the United States and around the world.


Senator Scott is considered a strong supporter of President Trump. When he made the allegations, he was asked what the evidence was. He replied that he had received evidence from the "intelligence community and the armed forces".


"There are some things I can't talk about right now," he added. I've been notified. "


He also alleged that "if England or the United States succeeds in developing the first vaccine, they will share it with the rest of the world, but if China develops the first vaccine, it will not do so."


What is the background to this issue?

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The Trump administration has blamed China for the outbreak since the outbreak, largely due to China's failure to control the epidemic effectively.


President Trump has generally dubbed the virus the "China virus." He also said the virus originated in a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan.


US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also said that the United States has "ample evidence" that the virus originated in a Chinese laboratory, but China has always denied the allegations.


On the other hand, the Five Eyes Alliance, which includes the United States and the United Kingdom, has already stated that there is no evidence to support the allegations. The World Health Organization has also denied the allegations.


President Trump's second feud is with the World Health Organization. He has announced his separation from the world body because he says the WHO is China's tail ring.


Trump initially accused Chinese officials of hiding the virus from the world, saying China could stop the spread of the disease.


This week, he threatened to ban passenger flights from China from June 16, after which Beijing said it would ease restrictions on international air travel.


Then there is the US-China trade dispute. The dispute escalated when the two countries imposed hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs on each other's goods.


What does China have to say?

Image copyright REUTERS

China has not yet responded to Senator Scott's allegations, but a new document released by China says China began alerting the United States to the virus on January 4.


China says it was a time when the epidemic was unknown to most countries.


The document mentions a telephone briefing given by China's Senator for Disease Control to the US epidemic on January 4.


China says it has acted in an open, transparent and responsible manner.


The World Health Organization has also praised China's efforts, saying China has helped the world slow the spread of the epidemic. Especially since China soon shared details of the virus's genetic code.


China's foreign ministry has repeatedly accused the Trump administration of trying to divert the world's attention from its problems in dealing with the crisis.


A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman also said that Code 19 originated in the United States, but did not provide any evidence.


How far has the vaccine gone?

Dozens of groups around the world are researching possible corona vaccines, some of which have even entered the clinical trials.

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