US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has relaunched his attack on China, claiming there's "significant evidence" to show their role in the coronavirus outbreak.
"There is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan," he told ABC's This Week.
Pompeo, however, did not dispute US intelligence agencies' conclusion that it was not manmade.
Meanwhile, China's state run newspaper dismissed the allegations, adding that the US official was "bluffing".
"The Trump administration continues to engage in unprecedented propaganda warfare while trying to impede global efforts in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic," the editorial said.
So far, more than 3,568,217 people around the world have been infected, with 248,347 deaths.
President Donald Trump said on Monday he believed a nuclear deal the US is currently negotiating with Iran will be better than a 2015 international agreement to curb Tehran's nuclear programme.
Iran is considering attending peace talks with the United States in Pakistan, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday, following moves by Islamabad to end a US blockade of Iran's ports, a major hurdle for Iran to rejoin peace efforts.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer put the blame firmly on foreign ministry officials on Monday over the appointment of a US ambassador, saying they had withheld information about Labour veteran Peter Mandelson that would have halted his employment.
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of Japan on Monday, prompting authorities to urge residents to stay away from coastal areas where tsunami waves of up to 3 metres were expected.
Indian drug regulators seized more than 260 suspected counterfeit pens of Eli obesity and diabetes drug Mounjaro and said the main accused had ordered raw materials from vendors on Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba.