UPDATE - Stop calling it 'China coronavirus': Beijing

UPDATES WITH REMARKS BY FOREIGN MINISTRY'S HUA CHUNYING; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - China on Friday slammed the U.S. for using the term “Chinese coronavirus” to describe the global outbreak, also alleging that the virus may have originated in the U.S.

The allegations came after Robert Redfield, the director of the U.S.’ Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), testified before the U.S. Congress on the virus.

Addressing Redfield, Hua Chunying, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, tweeted: "It is absolutely WRONG and INAPPROPRIATE to call this the Chinese coronavirus.”

Lijian Zhao, Chunying's colleague, also tweeted: “CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals?"

"It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan,” Zhao added, linking to a conspiracy theory website as proof.

The origin of the novel coronavirus is widely believed to be Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province, where the first cases came to light last December.

“We hope certain US officials could focus on domestic response & international cooperation instead of trying to shift the blame to China by denigrating Chinese efforts to fight the epidemic,” Lijian said.

After emerging in Wuhan, China last December, the virus, officially known as COVID-19, has spread to at least 118 countries and territories.

The global death toll is now nearly 5,000, with more than 132,000 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization, which has declared the outbreak a global pandemic.