Chinese state media claims ‘all available evidence’ suggests coronavirus came to country via imported frozen food

Chinese state media outlets are claiming that “all available evidence suggests” the coronavirus did not originate in Wuhan but instead came to China via imported frozen food.

“All available evidence suggests that #COVID19 did not start in central China’s Wuhan, but may come into China through imported frozen food products and their packaging: experts,” the Chinese state-run People’s Daily tweeted.

The claim was also pushed by the Chinese tabloid Global Times, but it has been disputed by health experts worldwide, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said there is “no evidence” handling or consuming food transmits the disease.

“When and where did the virus start circulating? Tracing the virus cannot answer all questions, but it is very likely that the virus had co-existed in multiple places before being spotted in Wuhan,” Zeng Guang, the former chief epidemiologist of China’s Center for Disease Control, said in a Global Times article.

Most health experts have concluded that the coronavirus originated in Wuhan, China, although there is a dispute as to where specifically in that region the spread began.

There is some data to suggest, however, that the virus was present in other places earlier than scientists previously thought, including a study released last week suggesting that the virus was circulating in Italy in September 2019.

The social media platform Twitter has been criticized since China’s claim was reported for not warning users of possible “misinformation” in a similar fashion to how the company handles concerns of other coronavirus claims or voter fraud.

“There is no Twitter misinformation label on this tweet,” Spectator contributor Stephen L. Miller tweeted. “It’s been up for 14 hours.”

“The CCP needs to tread carefully,” Sen. Ted Cruz’s national security adviser Omri Ceren posted. “If they post nonsense like this 16 or 17 more times, they may find themselves tagged by Twitter with a warning label, maybe.”

“Honestly, why doesn’t this have a disclaimer from Twitter?” Heritage Foundation social media manager Lyndsey Fifield tweeted. “This is not just a debunked story — this is literal Chinese communist propaganda.”

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.