In a first, US President Joe Biden talks to Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, discusses COVID origins investigation

In his first call with Chinese Premiere Xi Jinping in seven months since he took over the White House, US President Joe Biden discussed the investigation into the origins of the coronavirus on Thursday. 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, "They did discuss a range of trans-national issues including COVID-19, and understanding its origins is, of course, a primary concern for this administration." She added, "Yes, it was a topic raised, but I'm not going to go into further detail."

The call was respected and candid, Psaki said, adding that it was not lecturing or condescending and intended at keeping communications channels open between the US and China.

The US President had last month vowed to press China into finding the answers over the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic that has now killed 4.8 million people globally. According to Intelligence agencies, there were unable to find out whether the virus emerged from a Chinese research laboratory without Beijing`s help.

The US has accused Beijing of not cooperating with the pandemic source investigation, that China denies. 

In the call, Xi told Biden that China and the US should respected each other's core concerns and manage differences properly, reported Xinhua News Agency. It added that the Chinese Premiere told his US counterpart that the two nations should continue dialogue, contact, and cooperate on issues, such as epidemic prevention and control, economic recovery, climate change among others.

Psaki said, "It wasn't a call that was intended to produce final outcomes."