The American intelligence agencies, as stated in the material of The WSJ, came to the conclusion that the source of the coronavirus was most likely a Chinese laboratory.
The United States Department of Energy is inclined to believe that the cause of the Covid-19 pandemic was probably an unintentional leak from a Chinese laboratory. The Wall Street Journal writes about this, citing a secret intelligence report recently provided to the White House and key members of Congress.
The Department of Energy’s finding is the result of new intelligence and is significant because the agency has significant scientific expertise and oversight of a network of U.S. national laboratories, some of which conduct advanced biological research.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation also said earlier that the pandemic was likely the result of a lab leak. It is noted that the FBI relies on data from a whole staff of microbiologists, immunologists, and also enjoys the support of the National Center for Forensic Biological Analysis.
The US is still investigating the emergence of Covid-19
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It is noted that not all US intelligence communities share the position of the Department of Energy and the FBI. Four US agencies, along with a national intelligence team, believe the virus spread naturally. Two more agencies have not yet come to final conclusions.
US officials have not yet disclosed details of the new information about the coronavirus, which influenced the formation of the position of the US Department of Energy. People familiar with the contents of the classified report told reporters that the agency had made its decision with “low confidence.”
The document says that intelligence is still gathering information about how Covid-19 appeared. The National Intelligence Council and four other agencies are assessing the version of natural transmission from an infected animal with “low confidence”.
People familiar with the report note that, in general, US intelligence agencies have come to a consensus that Covid-19 was not the result of China’s biological weapons program.
A 2021 US intelligence report states that Covid-19 first spread in the Chinese city of Wuhan no later than November 2019.
Beijing disputes the possibility of a leak of the virus from a Chinese laboratory and claims that it originated outside their country. China has also placed restrictions on WHO investigations.
Recall that in November last year, thousands of Chinese rallied against restrictive policies on the coronavirus, as a result of which hundreds of people were detained and are still in custody.
We also wrote that on February 22, the Public Health Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine reported that a new strain of the Kraken coronavirus had already been detected in four regions of the country: Sumy, Zakarpattia, Odessa and Ternopil.