China's UN ambassador Chen Xu on Wednesday issued a statement in Geneva saying the country will not be inviting international experts for an investigation on the source of COVID-19 until the "final victory" against the virus has been established. Chen Xu during an online briefing said that China's topmost priority at present is to overcome the pandemic and tackle the "absurd and ridiculous" politicization surrounding the COVID-19 virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that it awaits an invitation from China to allow for investigations to be conducted on the animal origins of the coronavirus, which was first reported to the world in December last year in the city of Wuhan in the Hubei province. Chen Xu, while responding to the question as to when the WHO could expect an invitation said, "The top priority, for the time being, is to focus on the fight against the pandemic until we win the final victory,".

He further stated, "We need the right focus and allocation of our resources. It's not that we are allergic to any kind of investigations, inquiries or evaluations. We need to race with time to save lives as much as we can. For whether or how the invitation will take place, we need to have the right priority setting at this moment, and on the other hand, we need the right atmosphere."