A law firm in Boca Raton, the southernmost city in Palm Beach County in the US state of Florida, announced on March 13 that it would bring a class action against the Chinese government for the pneumonia outbreak in the US, requiring that China pay several billion dollars in damages, reported the Palm Beach Post.

In the indictment, the Berman Law Group claimed that although China had prevented the spread of the novel coronavirus in its early stages, it failed to fully contain the epidemic. It didn’t specify how it arrived at the amount of compensation demanded.

The accusation made by the Florida law firm against China is ridiculous and unreasonable, said Li Haidong, professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, adding that it is an attempt by extreme forces in the US to pass the buck to China for its own negligence in preventing the epidemic.

Li pointed out that it is not yet known where the novel coronavirus originated, and that it is not simply China’s fault that the virus has spread worldwide, but a side effect of the large-scale movement of people and resources that has resulted from globalization.

The professor also asked that if the indictment is in any way justified, how much should the US compensate the 214 countries and regions where a total of 18,449 people died in 2009 of the H1N1 virus that broke out in the US?

The lawsuit is being filed by four people, none of whom has been infected with the novel coronavirus, as well as a company, whose owner is one of the four. The law firm is currently seeking support from Americans who have been infected with the virus or have been affected by it for its class action.