China says Wuhan institute was not involved in creating COVID-19 virus

BEIJING (Reuters) – The Wuhan Institute of Virology was not involved in the creation or leakage of the COVID-19 virus, a spokesperson of China’s foreign ministry said during a regular press conference on Wednesday.

The institute also never carried out any gain-of-function research on coronaviruses, the spokesperson said.

(Reporting by Ethan Wang, Xiuhao Chen and Ryan Woo; Editing by Tom Hogue)