France says no link between origin of COVID-19, Wuhan lab

"As regards the origin of the virus, the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs has no information to date to corroborate a possible link between the origin of the coronavirus and the work of the Institute of Virology in Wuhan," said the ministry when addressing the Senate earlier this month, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

France has supported a resolution brought up by the European Union to the World Health Assembly in May, which requested the World Health Organisation (WHO) to continue its work, in close collaboration with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, to identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the mechanisms of transmission to the human population, said the ministry in a letter answering a question by the upper house of the parliament.

"At this stage, France's priority is to continue the international fight against the pandemic, and to consolidate multilateralism," it added. "With this priority objective, the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs has talked several times with his Chinese counterpart."