Lindsey Graham asks China to shut down 'absolutely disgusting' wet markets that continue to sell bats
Senator Lindsey Graham has warned that if Beijing does not crack down on "gross" wet markets, the US will "change" its trade arrangements with China.
According to a report by the Washington Examiner, Chinese wet markets have opened back up for business despite Beijing ordering a ban on the sale of wild animals for consumption.
“I’m going to write a letter to the World Health Organization and to the Chinese ambassador asking them to close the Chinese wet markets,” Graham said. “These are open-air markets where they sell monkey[s]. They sell bat[s]. We think we — this whole thing started from a transmission from a bat to a human."
"About the last three or four pandemics have come from the Chinese wet markets," he continued. "I don’t think this came from a Chinese military lab, but these wet markets are gross, they’re just absolutely disgusting, selling exotic animals that transmit viruses from animals to human beings. Those things need to shut down.”
While the novel coronavirus was first detected in the city of Wuhan as early as December, Chinese locals now view the pandemic as a solved issue and have reportedly resumed their day-to-day as it was before the outbreak — including the sale of wild animals.
Graham said that if the wet markets are not shut down immediately, it could threaten the trading relationship between the US and China.
“I’m going to write a letter to the Chinese ambassador saying, if you don’t shut those wet markets down, our trading relationship is going to change,” he replied. “The source of this virus is the Chinese wet markets. But when you look — have doctors who come on and ask them, how many diseases have come from China through these wet markets where you intermingle all kinds of exotic animals, it’s just really a gross display of how you prepare food, that needs to stop."
"What can China do to help the world? Shut those markets down," he added.
This comes amid reports that a Chinese teenager has brought the coronavirus back to Wuhan, the former epicenter of the pandemic, after returning from the UK.
The city had recorded only one new infection in the past 10 days, declaring last week that it was largely successful in containing the outbreak.
But the 16-year-old student, identified only by his surname Zhou, has reportedly become the city's first "imported case," with local health officials claiming he displayed no symptoms.
Authorities revealed how the teenager had traveled to Wuhan from Newcastle via Dubai and Beijing.
Beijing is currently taking drastic measures to screen new arrivals from abroad as well as the so-called "silent carriers" fearing they could spark a second wave of the deadly outbreak.
Wuhan, the former ground zero, has reported at least 2,535 coronavirus deaths and over 50,000 confirmed cases thus far.
Meanwhile, in the US, there have been over 180,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 4,000 people have died. Globally, there are currently 880,000 confirmed cases with the count constantly increasing. So far, the global death toll has surpassed 44,000.