Â鶹Éç

Available for over a year

A disinformation campaign claiming that the Covid-19 virus originated from Fort Detrick, an American military base in Maryland, has gained popularity in China ahead of the release of a US intelligence report on the virus origins. In May, US president Joe Biden ordered a 90-day probe into whether the Covid-19 virus came from a lab accident or emerged from human contact with an infected animal. Until then, the "Wuhan lab leak" theory had been dismissed by most scientists as a fringe conspiracy theory. But now as the report is due to be released, China has gone on the offensive. In the past few weeks, Chinese sources have been amplifying a baseless claim that Covid-19 was made in the US. Robin Brant, Â鶹Éç correspondent, explains how the "counter narrative" campaign has been led by China's state media. The campaign has been ramped up in recent months and focuses on a lab, Fort Detrick, which is part of America's biological defence programme. Photo: Fort Detrick Army Medical Research Institute. Credit: Getty Images