A TV presenter for Chinese state television claims that COVID-19 came from the United States - either escaping from a US lab, or having been brought into China during the Military World Games in Wuhan last October, reports the UK's Metro.

The anchor, who goes by "Ms V" on the CGTN show "China View," rattled off several theories which she said shows "it is clear that the virus in China was transmitted from abroad," (and not from the level 4 biolab in the same town which was screwing around with bat coronavirus, and where "patient zero" reportedly disappeared after falling ill).

Ms V told the camera: ‘The outbreak may be earlier than expected. In September 2019, some Japanese were infected with the new coronavirus after returning from Hawaii, though they had not visited China before. ‘This happened two months before the beginning of the outbreak in China. Shortly after, the CDC shut down the facilities – after claiming that the Fort Detrick Biological Weapons Laboratory had failed to fully prevent the loss of pathogens. ‘Now, all the data related to this lab has disappeared on the internet. The virologist reported he had carefully researched the cases, as well as his Japanese colleague, and they got the same conclusion. ‘It is expected that the new coronavirus has started outbreaks in the United States for a while, and its symptoms were like symptoms of other diseases, so it was easy to hide the truth.’ -Metro

A video of the Arabic-speaking host spreading the rumors during an Arabic-language broadcast has received millions of views, and comes as Washington and Beijing have begun to lock horns over the origins of the virus. According to a Fox News report, the virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology - a theory we posited in January, which was called a 'conspiracy theory' by mainstream media.

Shortly before the Fox News report, the Washington Post reported that US State Department cables warned of safety issues at the Wuhan BSL-4 biolab.

Metro notes that the Fort Detrick - home to the Department of Defense's top biological defense research laboratory known as USAMRIID - was partially closed in July by the CDC due to problems with the disposal of dangerous materials, and was fully reopened in April.

Ms V then cited a Japanese broadcast in which a presenter claimed that the pandemic may have originated after the US participated in the Military Olympic Games in Wuhan which was attended by 109 countries.

Chinese government spokesperson Zhao Lijian tweeted this story in March suggesting 'it might be the US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan,' a claim that the Pentagon called 'false and absurd.'