After US President Donald Trump calling COVID-19 a "Chinese virus" and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blaming China, Russia and Iran for spreading disinformation about new coronavirus, questions are now being raised over whether Beijing can be held legally accountable for covering up the initial outbreak.

According to a report in Fox News, the communist superpower can be held legally accountable. "An argument could be made that just like support for terrorism, which is legally actionable, a government that engages in such reckless disregard and negligence and covers up an epidemic which has the potential to spread worldwide could be held legally liable," Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, an Israel-based attorney, said in the report.