The government was made "fully aware" that China had covered up the true scale of the Covid-19 outbreak, it has been claimed.
Ministers were told "not to believe Beijing's claims" from the outset by the security services and to treat the information coming out of China with scepticism, according to The Telegraph.
A senior former MI6 official is understood to have told the paper that British intelligence agencies knew what was "really happening" in China and passed that information to ministers.
Today Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was asked whether he was aware of a report from the Five Eyes - the joint intelligence committee - that China covered up the scale of the outbreak making the situation worse.
Mr Wallace told the BBC's Today Programme: “Every day I get intelligence bulletins from our agencies around the world. I don’t comment on individual bulletins, what I have and haven’t seen.”
He added: “The time for post mortem into this global pandemic viral spread is once we all have as much data as possible and testing around the world produces solid and realistic results.”
“Me speculating or talking about what I think about China or anybody else is not going to help the fight against coronavirus in the UK right now.”
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has raised doubts over whether virus came from a live animal market - though the US President has not published evidence.
China has always insisted that the outbreak began in a so-called wet market in Wuhan, where live animals were being sold.
And the World Health Organisation insisted this week the "focus of the research" was on transmission from animals.
But President Trump cast doubt on the veracity of the Chinese state's explanation. And last week Downing Street failed to distance itself from his remarks.
The spotlight is being turned on the nearby Wuhan Institute of Virology amid claims that lax biosecurity may have allowed the disease, being examined in the lab, to somehow escape.
The US President claimed last week he had “seen evidence” that Covid-19 came from a lab, not a wildlife market.
He declined to describe the evidence, but his remarks will ratchet up tensions with Beijing over the origins of the deadly disease.
He also speculated whether China had made a "mistake" at the start of the outbreak or whether anyone had done "something on purpose".
Asked whether he had seen evidence that gave him a "high degree of confidence" the virus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the President said he had.
"Yes, yes I have," he said, declining to give specifics.
Yesterday US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, claimed there was “enormous evidence” coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory.
US intelligence had issued a formal statement saying the scientific consensus is the virus was not manmade or genetically modified.
When reminded of this, Pompeo replied: ‘That’s right. I agree with that.’”
Asked last week if the UK government agreed with President Trump, Boris Johnson ’s official spokesman said: “There are clearly questions that need to be answered about the origin and spread of the virus, not least so we can ensure that we are best prepared for future global pandemics.
“This work will need to be done with all of our international partners.”
