Those who spread conspiracy theories about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) are doing so either out of "bad intentions" or "absurd ignorance," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday.

File photo: CGTN

Certain Western individuals and media outlets have suggested that the COVID-19 virus may have to do with China's biological warfare program and it is a bioweapon leaked from a lab.

"We hope that the international community, while working together to combat the virus, will continue to work together against conspiracy theories and other 'political viruses,'" Spokesperson Geng Shuang told an online news briefing.

The head of the WHO has said many times that there is no evidence that the novel coronavirus was produced in the laboratory or caused by the manufacturer of biological weapons. 

On February 18, the joint statement signed by 27 of the world’s leading scientists in the field of public health and published by the Lancet, in support of the Chinese research, health, and medical workers fighting the epidemic outbreak, which strongly condemns the conspiracy theories. 

The statement pointed out that scientists from multiple countries have published and analyzed genomes of the causative agent that counter the conspiracy theories and they overwhelmingly concluded that this coronavirus originated in wildlife.

“Conspiracy theories are useless except to create panic, rumors, prejudices, and undermine our efforts to fight the epidemic,” Geng said. 

He emphasized, “We must seek the triumph of science over ignorance, dispel rumors with truth, and replace prejudice with cooperation.”

(Compiled by Chen Sihui)