There have been reports that the virus may have leaked from a lab in Chhania.
US intelligence agencies said on Friday that they may never be able to identify the origins of COVID-19, as they released a new, more detailed version of their review of whether the coronavirus is animal-borne. – Came from human transmission or leaked from a laboratory.
A natural origin and a laboratory leak are both plausible hypotheses for how SARS-COV-2 first infected humans, the Office of the US Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said in an unclassified report.
But it said analysts disagree about which is more likely or whether a definitive assessment can be made.
The report also rejected suggestions that the coronavirus originated as a bioweapon, saying proponents of the theory “do not have direct access to the Wuhan Institute of Virology” and accusing them of spreading disinformation .
The report, released Friday, is an update of the 90-day review that President Joe Biden’s administration released in August, amid intense political conflict over how much to blame China for the effects of the global pandemic. Not instead of governments that have not moved quickly. To protect civilians.
Former Republican President Donald Trump – who lost his bid for re-election because the pandemic ravaged the US economy – and many of his supporters referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus”.
Some US spy agencies strongly supported the explanation that the virus originated in nature. But there has been little confirmation and in recent months the virus has spread widely and naturally to wild animals.
The ODNI report said four US spy agencies and a multi-agency body have “low confidence” that COVID-19 originated from an infected animal or a related virus.
But one agency said it had “moderate confidence” that the first human COVID-19 infection was most likely the result of a laboratory accident, perhaps an experiment by the Wuhan Institute of Virology or involving handling of animals.
US spy agencies believe they will not be able to offer a more definitive explanation for the origins of COVID-19 without new information demonstrating that the virus took a specific route from animals to humans or that a Wuhan laboratory virus or related virus. Before COVID-19 emerged.
The report said that US agencies and the global scientific community lack a “complete understanding of epidemiological data from clinical samples or early COVID-19 cases” and added that if more evidence emerges, it will may revisit this inconclusive finding.
China has faced international criticism for failing to fully cooperate with the investigation into the origins of COVID.
China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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