In 20 years, five plagues from China, says US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien

Washington, May 13: US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien said said that as many as five plagues have come out of China in the last 20 years and at some point it has to stop, holding the country responsible for the origin of the coronavirus pandemic which has killed over 250,000 people globally.

"People across the world are going to rise up and tell the Chinese government that "we can no longer have these plagues coming out of China", whether it is from labs or wet markets, neither one is a good answer," O'Brien said.

"We know it came from Wuhan and I think there's circumstantial evidence that it could have come from the lab or the wet market. But, again, if you're China, neither one's a good answer," he added.

"We've had five plagues from China in the last 20 years. We have had SARS, avian flu, swine flu, COVID-19 now and how longer can the world put up with this terrible public health situation that you've got in the People's Republic of China that is being unleashed on the world," the top American official said.

However, the US National Security Advisor did not mention the fifth plague to come out of from China. "I mean, this is, at some point, it's got to stop. We offered to send in health professionals to help the Chinese. They rejected that," he said.

When asked that the US is still looking for evidence about the origin of the virus, he refrained from giving a timeframe. "I can't give you a timeframe on that. That's something that we're continuing to review and it is obviously a very serious concern. Look, China's got to figure out how to deal with its public health because we cannot have another one of these virus outbreaks and plagues come from China. This was a terrible thing that happened to the entire world, not just to the United States," he said.