48国致函世卫反病毒溯源政治化， 外交部回应
7月15日，44个国家就新冠病毒溯源问题向世界卫生组织总干事谭德塞提交了联名致函，另有4个国家单独致函，欢迎世卫组织发布的中国—世卫组织新冠病毒溯源联合研究报告，强调病毒溯源是一项科学任务，反对溯源问题政治化。
这些国家在信中赞赏联合专家组科学家们的艰辛努力，认为这份科学报告应成为推动全球溯源工作的基础和指引，呼吁世卫组织秘书处同成员国开展合作，推进全球溯源研究，并采取有效措施避免政治因素干扰。同时，这些国家代表在信中强调，病毒是人类共同的敌人，国际社会只有团结协作才能战胜病毒，开展溯源研究合作是人类与病毒斗争的重要方面。
7月15日，外交部发言人就48国致函世卫组织总干事反对将溯源问题政治化答记者问。
China urges relevant parties to stop political manipulation on the COVID-19 origin tracing issue, stop using the issue to shift blame, and stop sabotaging international origin tracing research cooperation, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement issued on Thursday.
The spokesperson made the remarks after 44 countries on Thursday submitted a joint letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, four countries wrote separate letters, on the COVID-19 origin tracing issue. They welcomed the joint WHO-China study on COVID-19 origin tracing, stressing that virus origin tracing is a scientific task and opposing politicizing the issue.
The countries in the letter called on the WHO Secretariat to cooperate with member States to promote global origin tracing research in accordance with relevant resolutions of the World Health Assembly.
发言人表示，从疫情初期，中国就在溯源问题上表明了科学、专业、严肃和负责任的态度。中国率先同世卫组织开展全球溯源合作。去年以来，中方两次邀请世卫专家来华开展溯源研究。今年初，来自美国、英国、日本、澳大利亚等10国的国际权威专家同中国权威专家组成联合专家组，在华开展了为期28天的联合研究，其间共同分析数据、共同实地考察、共同走访交流，不断凝聚科学共识。在双方共同努力下，此次联合研究取得积极成果，得出许多重要结论。世卫组织已于3月30日正式发布了中国—世卫组织新冠病毒溯源联合研究报告。这份报告的形成，遵循了世卫组织的程序，采取了科学的方法，体现了权威性和科学性，得到了国际社会普遍认可和尊重，为推进全球溯源工作打下了良好基础。中方在病毒溯源问题上展现的开放、透明态度也得到国际专家的充分肯定。
然而，一个时期以来，我们不断看到以美国为首的少数国家将疫情污名化、病毒标签化、溯源政治化。他们公然漠视科学家们的合作成果，为一己私利，不惜背弃科学和真理。他们公开鼓吹让情报机构开展调查，罔顾事实真相，不择手段污蔑中方不透明、不合作。这些行为已经严重干扰和破坏了国际溯源研究合作，也给各国抗击疫情、挽救生命制造了极大困难和障碍，引起了国际社会的普遍不满和反对。广大发展中国家在联名函中发出压倒性的正义声音，同美方裹挟少数国家搞政治操弄、反对科学、歪曲事实形成鲜明对照，充分反映了国际社会的公义所在和人心向背，充分表明秉持公正客观、主持公道公理的国家还是占大多数的。
发言人强调，我们奉劝有关方面停止在溯源问题上搞政治操弄，停止利用溯源问题甩锅推责，停止蓄意破坏国际溯源研究合作，采取真正负责任的科学态度，同国际社会一道为战胜疫情、维护人类健康福祉做出应有贡献。
The spokesperson said a joint report on origin tracing of COVID-19 issued following a 28-day joint study carried out in China by international experts and their Chinese counterparts in March has laid a sound foundation for advancing global origins tracing.
"China's open and transparent attitude on tracing the origins of the virus has also been fully recognized by international experts," the spokesperson added.
The ministry also condemned a few countries led by the United States for stigmatizing the pandemic, labeling the virus and politicizing the origin tracing.
"They blatantly disregard the achievements scientists made together and turn a blind eye to science and truth for their own selfish interests. They publicly clamor for investigations conducted by intelligence agencies and falsely accuse China of not being transparent and cooperative by all means regardless of the facts," the spokesperson said. "These actions have seriously disrupted and undermined international cooperation in global origins study, created great difficulties and obstacles for countries to fight the pandemic and save lives, and aroused wide dissatisfaction and opposition in the international community."
多家外国媒体也相继发文呼吁尊重科学，不要将新冠病毒溯源研究政治化。
近日，《韩国时报》发布评论文章《新冠病毒溯源不是一场游戏》，强调新冠病毒溯源研究是科学问题，而非地缘政治游戏。
文章强调，各国应该尊重世卫组织和中国病毒专家此前开展的联合调查。今年2月，中国-世界卫生组织新型冠状病毒溯源研究联合专家组召开新闻发布会，明确表示新冠病毒从实验室泄露的说法“极不可能”。但美国某些政客对中国采取“双重标准”，不仅故意无视世卫组织的调查结果，质疑报告真实性，更对中国进行诽谤，提出无理要求。
然而，美国国家卫生研究院研究人员最近发布的一项最新研究报告表明，新冠病毒最早可能在2019年12月就已在美国出现并传播。文章指出，“如果确实有必要在全球范围内发起新的新冠病毒溯源工作，那么重点应该放在美国而非中国。”
文章最后表示，疫情本应给中国和西方国家提供宝贵的合作机会，现在双方“携手合作还不算晚，但美国首先要停止将新冠病毒溯源政治化。”
In an article published on The Korea Times, Sun Yi urged to take the origin tracing of the COVID-19 virus as a scientific issue rather than a geopolitical game.
"The joint WHO-China investigation should be respected," Sun said, adding that the report comes from the joint World Health Organization-China investigation team that supported the natural outbreak theory and clearly stressed it was "extremely unlikely" that the COVID-19 virus leaked from a Chinese lab.
Sun also noted that if new worldwide tracing is indeed necessary, the primary focus should be on America instead of China.