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A growing storm over the origins in China of COVID-19 has explosive political implications for the United States at home and abroad, as well as the duelling legacies of two presidents that will be defined by the pandemic.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he had ordered US intelligence agencies to report in 90 days on whether the virus originated not in animals and spread to humans but might have escaped from a Chinese laboratory.

The move deepened a mystery encompassing the pernicious spread of a deadly pathogen, an intricate epidemiological puzzle, the opacity of a totalitarian system and the bitter overtones of a superpower rivalry. 

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It will fan doubts about the World Health Organisation's capacity to tease out lessons from the current crisis in order to prevent future pandemics.

In the US, it leaves both the former Trump administration and the Biden White House facing calls for transparency about their efforts to establish how the virus started and whether politics tainted their investigative efforts. 

If it turns out the virus did escape from a laboratory, former President Donald Trump may be able to claim some vindication. 

But it would also highlight how his repeated habit of trashing the truth and bending intelligence to suit his own political ends shattered his credibility on this and other issues.

The focus on the laboratory theory in recent days multiplied calls in Washington for the US to make China pay a price for the pandemic, even before the full extent of its origins are known, adding more toxicity to a geopolitical joust that may spark a new Cold War.

But finding answers will be hard. China has every reason to cover up a virus that stained its prestige as a rising and sophisticated power with nearly 3.5 million people dead worldwide.

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Nationalist leader Xi Jinping and the Communist Party have no time for the shame of culpability that would mar their core case to the world — that their one-party rule is a better fit for the 21st century than democracy — a narrative Mr Biden has publicly vowed to combat.

Facing his own political pressure, Biden laid out two theories seen as "likely" by US intelligence on the origin of the virus in a statement on Wednesday.

The first has long been regarded as the most credible possibility by public health experts — that there was zoonotic spread, possibly from live animals in a "wet" market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, to humans.

But while cautioning there was no definitive conclusion yet, the President said that "one element" of the US intelligence community "leans" toward the possibility that the virus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan.

Mr Biden's notable public statement came as he felt rising political heat after the Wall Street Journal revealed several Chinese virologists sought hospital treatment late last year for an unidentified ailment. 

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CNN then reported the Biden administration had shut down a probe launched in the waning days of the Trump State Department to prove COVID-19 came from a Chinese lab. 

While the State Department later said the inquiry had simply been completed, several sources involved who spoke to CNN said it was their impression there was more work to be done.

The Biden administration is now facing calls to show it took the possibility of Chinese culpability sufficiently seriously, especially since prominent Trump team officials and Republicans are launching a victory lap after last year promoting claims about the Wuhan lab — mostly without any clear evidence.

But Trump supporters also appear to be making another attempt to whitewash the history of his disastrous handling of a pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands on his watch.

'No cherry picking'

The medical and political priority now is a credible, in-depth, investigation.

Dr Leana Wen, a CNN medical analyst and former Baltimore health commissioner, said on CNN Newsroom that such a probe needed to be based on a scientific method, "which means you don't go into this with a preferred conclusion and then cherry-pick your data to fit that conclusion."

Such concerns are why the Biden administration closed down the probe opened by ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, two sources told CNN's Kylie Atwood.

The Trump administration, facing election-year blame for its botched handling of a pandemic the ex-President long downplayed, had a strong incentive to find Chinese negligence, whatever the real story was. 

It also had a record of shaping science and intelligence for political ends and rejecting inconvenient expertise.

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It now falls to the Biden administration to prove that it has the clout and willingness to track down the origin of the virus. There will be questions whether intelligence agencies, given the notorious difficulty of penetrating the Chinese security state, represent the best way of finding the truth.

It is not yet clear whether China fully understands the origin of the virus. And the starting points of pandemics can be difficult to pinpoint.

"Many of us feel that it is more likely that this is a natural occurrence … where it goes from an animal reservoir to a human. But we don't know 100% the answer to that," Dr Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious diseases expert, said at a White House COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday.

But the Biden White House does have some political exposure on the issue. Last year, Democrats rebuked Trump for pulling out of the WHO on the grounds that it was dominated by China. 

The US rejoined the global body soon after the new President took office. If it turns out Beijing hoodwinked the WHO, which downplayed the laboratory theory, senior Trump officials can claim some vindication.

White House hardens line

In recent days, there has been a noticeable hardening of the US line toward the WHO and Beijing, and the White House has been covering its tracks.

"We have been saying that for a very long time that China needed to provide more access to the lab, cooperate more fully with the scientific investigators, and we don't think that they have met that standard," White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday.

Andy Slavitt, the White House's COVID-19 coordinator, said on Tuesday that the US needed a "completely transparent process from China". 

"We need the WHO to assist in that matter. We don't feel like we have that now," he said.

His comments raised the question of whether the WHO, in its current configuration, has the diplomatic weight and capacity to conduct an investigation that China is likely to obstruct.

"The World Health Organisation is not capable of undertaking this investigation because, frankly, the Chinese won't allow it," Republican Senator Marco Rubio argued on Fox News on Wednesday. 

The Florida senator is one of a number of Republicans who may run for president in 2024, and is taking a hard line on China will be part of the price for entry into the primary race.

A victory lap

Trump administration veterans and supporters responded to the latest events by claiming they were right to fling accusations at China despite not yet having offered public evidence.

"We need to know what happened here. The Chinese Communist Party knows what happened here. They know who patient zero was. They know precisely where this began," Mr Pompeo said on Fox News on Monday.

He is asking reasonable questions, even if he has political motives. The Chinese government was tardy in warning the rest of the world of the tragedy that was unfolding in Wuhan.

And the WHO appears to have struggled to secure timely and detailed answers about what was going on in late 2019 and early 2020 as the virus erupted.

Indiana Republican Senator Todd Young told CNN's Jake Tapper on Wednesday that the global health body needed to act fast to reestablish its reputation by persuading China to come up with more data about the origins of the virus.

"I don't see any other way for the World Health Organisation to restore its credibility in the eyes of Americans and many across the world, who have seen them, frankly, place more trust in the Chinese Communist Party leadership and more deference to them than they have to the Western world," he said.

The former head of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Dr Robert Redfield told CNN's Sanjay Gupta in a documentary released in March that the most likely "aetiology of this pathogen in Wuhan was from a laboratory." Like other Trump officials, he could not prove it.

Mr Trump himself gave the impression back in May 2020 that he had some information about the origin of the virus, saying, "Something happened." 

"It came from China. It should have been stopped. It could have been stopped on the spot," he said.

The ex-president, however, frequently touted conspiracy theories, hunches and manipulated intelligence and facts to serve his own political argument. He also politicised the virus for his own ends. 

So, he was not seen as a particularly credible source. And the question remains — if the Trump team had evidence of the lab theory, why did they not tell the world when they had every incentive to do so?

Claims that Mr Trump was "right" about COVID-19 also distract from his own culpability in mismanaging a virus that he repeatedly said was not a problem.

Whatever COVID-19's origin, history will condemn him for his neglect and denial once it reached US soil. He actually hampered US preparedness early in the crisis because he failed to pressure Beijing for answers.

As he sought a China trade deal to burnish his re-election campaign, Mr Trump fawned over China's President. 

He said in early 2020 that the Chinese were "working very hard" and doing "very well." Of Mr Xi, Mr Trump tweeted, "He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus."

It was only when the impact of the virus became clear on his own election prospects that he changed his tune, bolstering the idea he has a political motivation in blaming China for the pandemic.

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In the US state of Ohio, first you get a COVID-19 shot, then you get a shot at US$1 million ($1.29 million).

And then, if you're 22-year-old Abbigal Bugenske, you scream so loudly your parents think you're crying when you find out your the state's first Vax-a-Millionaire.

The mechanical engineer was driving to her family's home in suburban Cleveland when she took a call about the good news from state Governor Mike DeWine.

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A few minutes later she was in her parents' house screaming.

She described becoming the first winner of Ohio's $1 million Vax-a-Million incentive prize as "a whirlwind" during a news conference on Thursday morning (Friday morning AEST).

"It absolutely has not processed yet. I am still digesting it — and I like to say that it feels like this is happening to a different person. I cannot believe it."

The 2020 Michigan State University graduate plans to donate to charities and buy a car, but then invest most of the money and has no plans to quit her job.

Mr DeWine, a Republican, announced the program on May 12 to boost lagging vaccination rates.

"I know that some may say, 'DeWine, you're crazy! This million-dollar drawing idea of yours is a waste of money,'" the governor said when he announced the incentive.

But with the vaccine now readily available, the real waste, "is a life lost to COVID-19," the Governor said.

The $1 million wasn't the only prize on offer for vaccinated Ohioans.

Year 8 student Joseph Costello told reporters he was "very excited" to win a full college scholarship

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Mother Colleen Costello said she got the call from the governor as she left work on Wednesday (Thursday AEST).

At first she thought it was a recording, then realised it was the Governor himself.

"I was really thankful at that moment that there was a bench nearby, because I needed to sit down," she said.

Ms Bugenske said she received the Moderna vaccine as soon as she was eligible, long before the lottery was announced.

The Costellos said they were already vaccinated and had planned to have their children vaccinated by the end of the month, but the lottery announcement inspired them to move those appointments up.

More than 2.7 million adults signed up for the US$1 million ($1.29 million) prize and more than 104,000 children ages 12 to 17 entered the drawing for the college scholarship, which includes tuition, room and board, and books.

Four more $1 million and college scholarship winners will be announced each Wednesday for the next four weeks.

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The concept seemed to work, at least initially. The number of people in Ohio age 16 and older who received their initial COVID-19 vaccine jumped 33% in the week after the state announced its million-dollar incentive lottery, according to an Associated Press analysis.

But the same review also found vaccination rates were still well below figures from earlier in April and March.

More than 5.2 million people in Ohio had at least started the vaccination process as of Monday, or about 45 per cent of the state.

About 4.6 million people are done getting vaccinated, or 39 per of the state.

Nationally, more than 165 million Americans have started the vaccination process, or about nearly 50 per cent of the population. More than 131 million are fully vaccinated, or nearly 40 per cent.

About 500 million Australians are fully vaccinated, with almost 4 million doses administered, according to Health Minister Greg Hunt.

https://twitter.com/healthgovau/status/1397777092775981061

Mr DeWine's proposal inspired similar vaccine-incentive lotteries in Colorado, Maryland, New York state and Oregon.

The UN rights chief said Thursday that Israeli forces may have committed war crimes in the 11-day war with the militant group Hamas that rules the Gaza Strip. Michelle Bachelet also called on Israel to allow an independent probe of military actions in the latest spasm of deadly violence.

The remarks came as the UN's top human rights body opened a one-day special session to discuss the "the grave human rights situation" in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Bachelet said Hamas' indiscriminate rocket fire during the conflict was also a clear violation of the rules of war.

The UN high commissioner for human rights detailed to the Human Rights Council the "most significant escalation of hostilities since 2014" that left devastation and death in the Gaza Strip before a cease-fire last week.

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The 11-day war killed at least 248 in Gaza, including 66 children and 39 women. In Israel, 12 people also died, including two children.

"Air strikes in such densely populated areas resulted in a high level of civilian fatalities and injuries, as well as the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure," Bachelet said.

"Such attacks may constitute war crimes," she added, if deemed to be indiscriminate and disproportionate in their impact on civilians. Bachelet urged Israel to ensure accountability, as required under international law in such cases, including through "impartial, independent investigations" of actions in the escalation.

She also derided tactics of Hamas that included locating military assets in densely populated civilian areas, and firing rockets from them.

"These rockets are indiscriminate and fail to distinguish between military and civilian objects, and their use, thereby, constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law," Bachelet said. "However, the actions of one party do not absolve the other from its obligations under international law."

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She cautioned that unless the "root causes" of the violence are addressed, "it will certainly be a matter of time until the next round of violence commences with further pain and suffering for civilians on all sides."

The day-long debate involved personal accounts from Palestinians — such as that of a young woman journalist from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in east Jerusalem, an early flashpoint that triggered the violence — as well as statements from the council's 47 member states and also observer states.

The Organisation of Islamic Conference has presented a resolution that, if passed by the council, would mark an unprecedented level of scrutiny authorised by the council by setting up a permanent commission to report on human rights violations in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.

A vote on the draft resolution was likely at the end of the session, which is largely virtual.

Israel — backed at times by the United States — accuses the council of anti-Israel bias and has generally refused to cooperate with its investigators.

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Israeli Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar said Hamas — designated a terrorist organisation by the US and its allies — had fired 4400 rockets at Israeli civilians from "from Palestinian homes, hospitals, and schools. Each one of these rockets constitutes a war crime."

"What would you do if rockets were fired at Dublin, Paris, or Madrid," she asked.

Riad al-Maliki, the Palestinian foreign minister, sought to highlight years of suffering by Palestinians in the lands controlled or occupied by Israel.

The Israeli war machinery and terrorism of its settlers continue to target our children who face murder, arrest and displacement, deprived of a future in which they can live in peace and security," he said by video message.