'A biological Chernobyl’: Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon accuses China of coronavirus cover up

Days after president Trump suggested coronavirus was created in a Chine​se​ lab, former White House strategist Steve Bannon has given his two cents on the “debate” about the origins of Covid-19.

Bannon said that China should be "held accountable" because he thinks it hid what it knew about the virus in the early months.

Trump has said he has seen "evidence" that makes him confident that coronavirus originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. He has frequently criticised Beijing's response to the pandemic and has hinted that he may retaliate economically against China to punish them for their handling of it.

Bannon said:

We're going to find out over time if this came from the... lab in Wuhan.

He thinks China must have known about the ability of the disease to be transmitted from human to human in December 2019. He toldUnited We Stand, a show for Sinclair Broadcast Group:

If they had told the world at the time then 95 percent of the economic devastation and 95 percent of the people dead would have never happened.

This to me is premeditated murder, they're guilty of hiding this from people throughout the world, just like a biological Chernobyl. They've got to be held accountable.

If we find out later from (Vice President Mike) Pompeo and the president's investigation by the intelligence services that it actually came out of the lab on one of these experiments they've been doing, then all bets are off. Because that's raising it to an entirely different level.

Bannon told host Eric Bolling that the world should demand trillions in reparation.

If it turns out it came out of a lab, and this was one of their experiments that got loose, and they have direct culpability in that regard, to me, that means they are not a legitimate government.

China has strongly denied any cover up and that Covid-19 originated from a lab.