WHO says US has given ‘no evidence’ to back Pompeo’s Covid-19 lab claims

US Secretary of State made the controversial remarks on Sunday

The World Health Organisation on Monday dismissed as speculative US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s claim of “enormous evidence” that the coronavirus originated at a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan.

The organisation's top emergency expert, Mike Ryan, said in Geneva that the US had not presented any evidence backing such a claim.

"We have not received any data specific evidence from the US government relating to the purported origin of the virus," Mr Ryan said.

"So from our perspective, this remains speculative."

The US Secretary of State made the comments on Sunday.

“I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan,” Mr Pompeo told ABC news.

“There is enormous evidence that that’s where this began.”

He has accused the WHO of failing to alert the world to the seriousness of the crisis, and not holding China accountable.

The Trump administration froze its funding to the WHO last month.

But the UN agency hit back on Monday.

“If that data and evidence is available, then it will be for the United States government to decide whether and when it can be shared," Mr Ryan said.

The US blames the WHO for not pressuring China to allow international access to its labs and determine what happened.

“We need to understand that we can learn from Chinese scientists, we can learn from each other, we can exchange knowledge and we can find the answers together,” Mr Ryan said.

“If this is projected as aggressive investigation of wrongdoing, then I believe that’s much more difficult to deal with.

"That’s a political issue. That is not a science issue.”

The WHO’s legal officer, Steven Solomon, denied the claim that Taiwan warned the organisation about the virus late last year.

Taiwan shared a letter from December 31, 2018, that it sent to the WHO reporting “seven cases of atypical pneumonia” in Wuhan.

“That email was not a warning," Mr Solomon said. "It was a request for more information on cases of atypical pneumonia reported by news sources.

“The email asked for more information. Others, in fact, sent similar emails that same day.”

Mr Solomon praised Taiwan’s response to the virus and said that two countries had proposed allowing it to attend the annual health assembly as an observer in mid-May.

But he said the matter would be decided by all WHO members and not just the leadership.