'Wuhan lab's work linked to Chinese military': Mike Pompeo

Washington, May 30: Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday said that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) was engaged in military activity alongside its civilian research amid renewed scrutiny of the theory that the COVID-19 pandemic emerged from the secretive lab.

"What I can say for sure is this: we know that they were engaged in efforts connected to the People's Liberation Army inside of that laboratory, so military activity being performed alongside what they claimed was just good old civilian research," Pompeo said, as per Fox News.

He further mentioned: "They refuse to tell us what it was, they refuse to describe the nature of either of those, they refused to allow access to the World Health Organization when it tried to get in there."

China is coming under increasing pressure over probe into the origins of the COVID-19, even as scientists are demanding more clarity to go into the roots of the global pandemic.

Sky News Australia host Andrew Bolt on May 26 spoke to Professor Nikolai Petrovsky, Director of Endocrinology at Flinders Medical Centre, who said that the world's scientific community had been "tricked by China", reported New York Times Post.

Andrew Bolt said on his show The Bolt Report: "Finally a lot of experts are now saying well actually it does now look like this virus maybe did escape from that Chinese lab and China is feeling the heat."

Professor Petrovsky told him that although some Chinese scientists have suggested that COVID-19 originated from pangolins, this is unlikely to be the case, reported New York Times Post.

WHO team investigating the origins of COVID-19 in China found no evidence that the virus leaked from the Wuhan lab.

However, the team was closely monitored by Chinese authorities during its investigation, and one of its members told UK news agency news that China refused to hand over key data from the initial outbreak, reported New York Times Post.

This week, the Biden administration pushed China for a further probe into a possible leak from the Wuhan lab. However, China state media rejected the idea that COVID-19 had originated there and said that it is "a conspiracy created by US intelligence agencies", reported New York Times Post.