25 mln netizens sign online petition for Fort Detrick probe

BEIJING, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese netizen-initiated petition urging the World Health Organization to probe the U.S. Fort Detrick biolab concluded on Friday, garnering 25 million signatures online since its launch on July 17.

The online petition calling for a probe into the Fort Detrick represented the wide public opinion, said the Global Times newspaper, which was entrusted by a group of Chinese netizens to post the petition on social media.

The probe should revolve around the COVID-19 origin and the safety of the lab, according to the petition.

The Fort Detrick biolab stores dangerous infectious viruses and had a leak record in 2019 right before the pandemic, said the newspaper.

The petition received half a million signatures in 24 hours and 1 million in 48 hours, the Global Times said, noting that the petition website suffered severe cyberattacks from multiple U.S. IP addresses as signatures approached 10 million.

The petition website is https://vote.huanqiu.com/af96c/index.html?sign=false.