The propaganda war over the novel coronavirus went nuclear Thursday with the spokesman for China’s foreign ministry accusing the United States military of starting the virus outbreak in Wuhan. The accusation comes after high ranking U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have made a point of calling the virus the Chinese or Wuhan virus to pushback on China’s efforts to disavow responsibility for the virus.

Photo from Wuhan as the coronavirus overwhelmed the city’s hospitals, January.

The outbreak occurred in the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei province late last year and has since infected most of the nations of the world in just a few months. The communist government in China imposed a brutal quarantine on Wuhan and Hubei in an effort to stop the outbreak. President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan this week, visiting patients and medical workers there via video.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday went straight to Huoshenshan Hospital after arriving in #Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, for inspection. #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/qJ5t982MgF — Global Times (@globaltimesnews) March 10, 2020

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Lijian Zhao, Spokesperson & Deputy Director General, Information Department, Foreign Ministry of China, wrote on Twitter in Chinese and English, “1/2 CDC Director Robert Redfield admitted some Americans who seemingly died from influenza were tested positive for novel #coronavirus in the posthumous diagnosis, during the House Oversight Committee Wednesday. #COVID19”

“2/2 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. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!“

The spokesman keyed off a video of CDC Director Robert Redfield being asked about testing and autopsies of flu patients to see if they actually had the Wuhan virus, COVID-19. Redfield said it’s possible some cases were missed by not being tested.

1/2 CDC Director Robert Redfield admitted some Americans who seemingly died from influenza were tested positive for novel #coronavirus in the posthumous diagnosis, during the House Oversight Committee Wednesday. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/vYNZRFPWo3 — Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) March 12, 2020