Beijng has sensationally claimed that America not China is to blame for the Covid-19 pandemic. In a white paper released Wednesday, China's State Council Information Office suggested the virus that killed 1.2 million Americans and at least 7 million people worldwide may have originated in the United States.

The document appears to be a direct rebuttal to renewed attacks from the Trump campaign, which has doubled down on claims that Covid leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) — a lab known to be conducting coronavirus experiments — calling it the only plausible explanation for the pandemic.