China rejected on Thursday a World Health Organisation (WHO) plan for a second phase of an investigation into the origin of Covid-19, which includes the hypothesis it could have escaped from a Chinese laboratory, a top health official said.

The WHO this month proposed a second phase of studies into the origins of the Covid-19 in China, including audits of laboratories and markets in the city of Wuhan, calling for transparency from authorities.

"We will not accept such an origins-tracing plan...