Pompeo: China must 'come clean' about virus origin

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the Chinese government "needs to come clean" about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic which has sickened or killed millions across the globe.

Speaking Wednesday night on Fox News Channel's "The Story with Martha MacCallum," Pompeo said Beijing "needs to be accountable. They to explain what happened and why it is the case that that information wasn't made more broadly available."

Pompeo was asked on the program about an outlier theory that the new coronavirus was set loose on the world by a Chinese lab that let it escape.

A scientific consensus is still evolving but experts say it is unlikely the virus emerged from a negligent laboratory in China. Those experts overwhelmingly say analysis of the new coronavirus' genome rules out the possibility that it was engineered by humans, as some conspiracy theories have suggested.

Still, Pompeo said the U.S. is conducting a "full investigation of everything we can to learn how it is the case that this virus got away, got out into the world."

"This is a laboratory that contained highly contagious materials. We knew that. We knew that they were working on this program," Pompeo told MacCallum.

Scientists say the the virus arose naturally in bats. And they say the leading theory — by far — is that infection among humans began at an animal market in Wuhan, China, probably from an animal that got the virus from a bat.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus.

(Image Credit: AP)