COVID Act of 2023

This bill (S 588) requires the U.S. President to impose sanctions on specific Chinese officials and block U.S. funding for joint research with China if China fails to allow a transparent international investigation into the origins of COVID-19 at Wuhan laboratories within 90 days of the bill’s enactment. It targets officials involved in concealing the outbreak or obstructing the investigation, including leaders of China’s Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and agencies like the Ministry of Health. Key provisions include blocking assets of sanctioned individuals, denying visas to them, and banning U.S. federal-funded researchers from collaborating with China on certain virus-related research. The bill aims to compel China to grant unrestricted access to labs, data, and personnel for an independent origin investigation.