STORY: COVID-19 origins tracing should be based on science: experts
DATELINE: June 27, 2023
LENGTH: 00:02:09
LOCATION: Beijing
CATEGORY: HEALTH

SHOTLIST:
1. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): SHIMAIL DAUD ARAIN, Pakistani public health specialist
2. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): ABDULSAMAD NURUDEEN AYINDE, Physician at the national hospital of Abuja, Nigeria
3. SOUNDBITE 3 (Turkish): BARIS DOSTER, Academic at the Istanbul-based Marmara University

STORYLINE:

International experts have said that COVID-19 origins tracing should be based on science and facts, and should not be politicized.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): SHIMAIL DAUD ARAIN, Pakistani public health specialist
"Definitely, science is based on evidence. They have to base their information on evidence. Intelligence reports and so forth and so on, definitely can confuse. So I think, it should be, as all scientists should be based on evidence."

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): ABDULSAMAD NURUDEEN AYINDE, Physician at the national hospital of Abuja, Nigeria
"So the best thing is to allow the scientists, expert scientists from all over the world, which have been set up by the WHO, to do their work."

In March this year, the U.S. Congress passed the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023, which iterated that the pandemic may have originated in China.

After the U.S. government's three-year-long "investigation," its Energy Department concluded with "low confidence" that "an accidental laboratory leak" in China "most likely" caused the pandemic, as unsure as three years ago.

A Turkish analyst said that the U.S. "irrational obsession" with conspiracy theories about COVID origin exposed the country's desperation.

SOUNDBITE 3 (Turkish): BARIS DOSTER, Academic at the Istanbul-based Marmara University
"The fact that the U.S. still insists on its accusations at a time when the epidemic has largely lost its impact reveals its lack of logic, ulterior motives, and desperation in the fields of economic competition and foreign policy.

In other words, you can see how a state like the U.S., which until recently had the world's most distinguished universities known for attracting bright minds from around the world and famous for its laboratories, has become detached from reason, science, and reality when it comes to target China."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Beijing.
(XHTV)