The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said Monday that his panel plans to investigate the coronavirus epidemic's origins as well as the responses from the U.S. government and World Health Organization (WHO).

Sen. Ron Johnson Ronald (Ron) Harold JohnsonThe Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by The Air Line Pilots Association - White House moves closer to Pelosi on virus relief bill Second GOP senator to quarantine after exposure to coronavirus GOP-led panel to hear from former official who said Burisma was not a factor in US policy MORE (R-Wis.) told Politico on Monday that the investigation would cover all aspects of the coronavirus pandemic, including criticism of the WHO and unfounded allegations of the virus's supposed origin in a Chinese lab.

"Where did this all start from? Was this transferred animal to human? Was this from a lab in China? Might have been the best of intentions trying to come up with the different cures, with the different therapies for the coronavirus in general," Johnson told the news outlet . "We need to know what role WHO might have had in trying to cover this thing up."

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The panel, Johnson added, is "going to conduct oversight on this thing in its entirety." Other aspects of the probe reportedly include questions as to why the U.S. national stockpile wasn't "better prepared" for the shortages of masks, ventilators and other equipment sought by hospitals around the country in recent weeks.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), a member of the committee, will reportedly head up the investigation into China and the virus's origins, according to the two senators. Scott told the news outlet that “we can't trust communist China, we've learned we can't trust the WHO because they lie to us."

"Let's create a new organization if this is important to us because it clearly didn't work," he added of the WHO's efforts to stop the virus's spread.

Republicans have accused the WHO of uncritically accepting official counts of the virus's confirmed cases and deaths from Chinese officials, which some experts have said are likely lower than the country's actual numbers.

Last week President Trump Donald John TrumpObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Planned Parenthood: 'The fate of our rights' depends on Ginsburg replacement Progressive group to spend M in ad campaign on Supreme Court vacancy MORE joined that criticism, while threatening to look into defunding the global health organization.

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"The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?" he tweeted.