Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau has said that it is “too early to draw firm conclusions” on allegations if China did a cover-up on coronavirus leading to an explosion of Covid-19 pandemic . Canada is part of the intelligence alliance Five Eyes, which has blamed China for the coronavirus outbreak.
Trudeau’s comment came during a daily media briefing in Ottawa hours after multiple global media organisations put out reports based on a leaked intelligence dossier that blamed China for hiding and even destroying evidence of the coronavirus pandemic, thus contributing to its worldwide spread. The 15-page dossier came from the Five Eyes intelligence bloc, comprising the United States, Canada, England, New Zealand and Australia.
However, Trudeau was circumspect when addressing the matter as he said “it is still early to draw firm conclusions and indeed our focus remains on how we are working to protect Canadians.”
He did indicate that intelligence gathering and investigation in this respect was ongoing, as he said, “We will continue to work with intelligence agencies around the world, not just the Five Eyes but friends and partners as well and look to find answers to the many questions people are asking.”
Trudeau’s remarks preceded a comment from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that there is “enormous evidence” the virus leaked from a virology laboratory in Wuhan.
The Canadian PM has been similarly guarded on this matter even earlier when US President Donald Trump had charged China with allowing the virus to proliferate.
However, one of Trudeau’s Cabinet colleagues, Health Minister Patty Hadju, had earlier dismissed questions about China potentially fudging Covid-19 figures, as part of “conspiracy theories” on the Internet.