The US will not issue threats or ultimatums to China in connection with the investigation into the causes of the COVID-19 pandemic, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN.

According to him, the United States has a twofold approach.

“One track is an intelligence community assessment that President Biden ordered,” said Mr Sullivan.

“The second track is an international investigation led by the World Health Organization, for which President Biden has rallied democratic partners to say there must be access to China, to be able to get the data necessary to understand what happened here.

And he acknowledged that the G7 leaders had also called for a “timely, transparent, expert-led, and science-based” investigation into Covid-19.

“I will repeat what I said before, we’re not going to simply accept China saying no, but we will work between now and when this second phase of the WHO investigation is fully underway to have as strong a consensus in the international community as possible, because it is from that position of strength that we will best be able to deal with China,” said Mr Sullivan.