This undated handout photo by the  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the US National Institutes of Health, obtained on Aug 1, 2021, shows a transmission electron color-enhanced micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles isolated from a patient. (NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH / NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES / AFP)

KATHMANDU - The move to politicize COVID-19 origin tracing will achieve nothing but jeopardize anti-pandemic cooperation and cost more lives in the face of resurgent and frequent mutations of the virus, cautioned Chinese ambassador to Nepal.

"The irresponsible and unscientific act of politicizing this issue is the most dangerous political virus, which will only severely hinder global cooperation in the study of origins, jeopardize anti-pandemic cooperation, and cost more lives,"  Hou Yanqi said in a signed article published Monday on the English edition of Onlinekhabar.com, a news portal in Nepal.

China has taken the lead in cooperating with the World Health Organization in an "open, transparent and responsible" manner, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi said

"We believe that only if all the parties of the international community unite and cooperate in the spirit of science to find the true origin of the virus which endangers human life, we can effectively deal with and defeat this virus and create enabling conditions for protecting the common safety and health of humankind and promoting economic recovery," Hou said.

ALSO READ: World urges objective COVID origin tracing

China has taken the lead in cooperating with the World Health Organization (WHO) in an "open, transparent and responsible" manner, invited twice the WHO expert group to China for origin study, released the joint WHO-China study report in March and made "important contributions" to international cooperation on origin-tracing, she said.

"This effort should be continued in unity with other actors as it is the only way to defeat the virus," she wrote.

The attempt by some countries and individuals "to scapegoat China in order to shift responsibility for its poor COVID-19 response and achieve the political motive of smearing and suppressing China" has met opposition from people of vision, nearly 70 countries as well as over 300 political parties, organizations and think tanks from over 100 countries and regions, Hou wrote.

"It must be pointed out that the virus origin-tracing is a complex scientific issue and should be studied by scientists in the spirit of science," she said.

READ MORE: Chinese embassy: WHO's virus origin tracing plan 'politicized'

"All the countries in the world should also actively participate in global cooperation on origin-tracing with an open-minded attitude and jointly study the source of the coronavirus in order to provide support to the global fight against the pandemic," she wrote.