A senior Chinese health official said Thursday he was shocked by the World Health Organisation's plan for the second phase of a COVID-19 origins study.
National Health Commission Vice Minister Zeng Yixin dismissed the lab leak theory as a rumor running counter to common sense.
The head of the WHO acknowledged last week that it was premature to rule out a potential link between the pandemic and a leak of the coronavirus from a Chinese lab.
Zeng called the theory a rumor that goes against science.