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Coronavirus

Fake COVID-origin news floods China as officials turn blind eye

Beijing lets conspiracy theories run wild as US report on pandemic nears

Cyclists on a street in Beijing. Disinformation about the origin of coronavirus is running rampant in China.   © Reuters

BEIJING -- Misinformation about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic is circulating heavily in Chinese cyberspace, where a normally aggressive censorship regime has been staying its hand in an apparent effort to blunt the domestic impact of a forthcoming American report.

One conspiracy theory that has gained traction has the disease originating in Italy.

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