China: Coronavirus Outbreak in Wuhan Triggered by Australian Beefsteak

Global Times says coronavirus was imported into the Wuhan wet market from Australian beef steak and meat from Brazil and Germany.

China has made fresh claims that the coronavirus actually originated in Australia and then travelled to the wet market in Wuhan via import of frozen food, especially beef. This has added new insult to injury amid the ongoing diplomatic spat between the two countries. However, there is no supporting evidence to the claims.

The new claims were made in an article in the government-controlled Global Times newspaper on Sunday. China has long suggested that coronavirus originated in Europe or the United States months before cases were reported in China. However, most scientists generally locate the origin of the virus to a Wuhan wet market.

The Global Times, in a bid to cast doubt on the idea that Covid-91 originated in Wuhan, claimed in an article that the virus got imported into the Wuhan wet market from Australian beef steak. Besides, it also claimed that products such as meat from Brazil and Germany, cherries from Chile and seafood from Ecuador may be responsible in transporting coronavirus into China.

"The city also imported Australian steak, Chilean cherries and Ecuadorian seafood before 2019, according to the information from the website of the city's commerce bureau," the article claims. The Global Times articled further mentioned that since July there have been 40 cases of coronavirus being found on cold-chain imports, including on imported beef.

However, the authors admitted there was no evidence to support the theory that the virus started outside China. The government-controlled People's Daily newspaper also published a similar article on November 25...