US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo renewed his aggressive criticism of China over its handling of the coronavirus, saying it could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives and spared the world an economic downturn if it had been more transparent, Reuters reports.

Speaking to reporters, Pompeo sought to deflect questions about his comment that there was “a significant amount of evidence” that the novel coronavirus emerged from a Chinese lab.

“They knew. China could have prevented the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide,” Pompeo said. “China could have spared the world a descent into global economic malaise. They had a choice but instead — China covered up the outbreak in Wuhan.”