A group of Republican Party lawmakers in the United States on Monday introduced a legislation in the Senate that allows Americans to sure China in federal court for its alleged role in causing the coronavirus pandemic, PTI reported on Tuesday. The bill, known as the Civil Justice for Victims of COVID Act, also authorises federal courts to freeze Chinese assets.

The pandemic has increased tensions between Washington and Beijing over the last few months. United States President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed China for being unable to contain the spread of the coronavirus, or Covid-19, after it originated in the country late last year. Last month, the US president had said that he was growing “more and more angry at China”.

The bill, supported by over a dozen US senators, was introduced by senators Martha McSally, Marsha Blackburn, Tom Cotton, Josh Hawley, Mike Rounds and Thom Tillis. It “strips China of its sovereign immunity for reckless actions that caused the pandemic and creates a cause of action”.

“Americans who have been victimised by the lies and deceit of the Chinese Communist Party – to include those who lost loved ones, suffered business losses, or were personally harmed due to Covid-19 – deserve the opportunity to hold China accountable and to demand just compensation,” McSally said. “As the death toll and financial losses of Covid-19 mount, China should be forced to pay the costs of these damages to the American people.”

United States is the worst-affected country, with over 38.31 lakh cases, including 1.40 lakh deaths, as of Tuesday, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

Blackburn said that China’s Communist Party must face consequences for concealing – and now “profiting off” – the Covid-19 pandemic they enabled. “The costs are devastating: trillions of dollars in economic damage, millions of American jobs lost, and over a half million deaths worldwide and counting,” he added. “Business owners and families who have lost loved ones deserve justice.”

Meanwhile, Cotton accused China of allowing the virus to spread quickly around the globe by “silencing doctors and journalists who tried to warn the world” about it. He said that Beijing’s decision to cover up the virus led to thousands of “needless deaths and untold economic harm”.

On July 4, Trump had renewed his attacks on China over the source of the coronavirus, in an Independence Day speech at the White House. Trump, who has faced intense criticism over his handling of the pandemic in the US, had said China must be “held accountable” for failing to contain the infection.

“We got hit by the virus that came from China,” the president said. “We have made a lot of progress. Our strategy is moving along well. It goes out in one area, it rears back its ugly face in another area. But we have learned a lot. We have learned how to put out the flame.”