China should be honest on Covid origin, says US envoy

The US envoy to China has called on the country to be "more honest" about the origins of the Covid-19 virus.

His comments come a day after US media reported that a federal agency had found the pandemic probably started from a laboratory leak in Wuhan.

The Department of Energy reportedly concluded with "low confidence" that the virus was accidentally leaked.

China's foreign ministry hit back, saying Covid's origin "was about science and should not be politicised".

Washington-Beijing ties have been under strain since the US shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon this month.

Ambassador Nicholas Burns told a US Chamber of Commerce event on Monday that China needs to "be more honest about what happened three years ago in Wuhan with the origin of the Covid-19 crisis".

The energy department had formerly said it was undecided on how the virus began.

Other US agencies have drawn differing conclusions, with varying degrees of confidence in their findings. The FBI in 2021 concluded with "moderate confidence" that the virus leaked from a lab.

Other studies suggest it made the leap from animals to humans at Wuhan's Huanan seafood and wildlife market.