The virus that caused the Covid-19 pandemic most likely originated from a laboratory leak but not as part of a weapons program, according to an updated and declassified 2021 US Energy Department study released to the White House and senior US lawmakers, Wall Street reported on Sunday. Journal.
The department's findings appeared in an updated version of a document prepared by the office of Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, the WSJ reported. This follows a finding that the FBI reportedly issued with "moderate confidence" that the virus spread after a leak from a Chinese laboratory.
The conclusion from the Energy Department -- which oversees a network of 17 U.S. laboratories, including areas of advanced biology -- would be significant despite the report saying the agency made its updated judgment with "low confidence."
Controversial hypotheses about the origin of Covid-19 have centered on either an unknown animal that transmitted the virus to humans, or an accidental leak of the virus from a Chinese research laboratory in Wuhan.
The spread of Covid-19, which is only one of a series of infectious coronaviruses, unexpectedly hit the world's health authorities at the beginning of 2020. Since then, according to the World Health Organization, it has killed nearly 7 million people worldwide, and the world has been suffering the economic consequences of the reaction ever since.
The Energy Department's updated findings contradict reports from four other U.S. intelligence agencies that concluded the outbreak began as a result of natural transmission from an infected animal. Two agencies remain uncertain.
The CIA remains undecided between the leak and natural transmission theories, according to a National Intelligence Council study.
Although the original 2021 report did not reach a conclusion, it provided a consensus view that Covid-19 was not part of a Chinese biological weapons program.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan acknowledged on Sunday that there are "different views" on the issue within US intelligence agencies. "Some elements of the intelligence community have come to one side and others to the other, and several have said they just don't have enough information to be sure," Sullivan told CNN.
But he said the Biden administration has "repeatedly directed all elements of our intelligence community to devote effort and resources to getting to the bottom of this issue."
Formerly of the Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
His May 2020 report concluded that the lab leak theory was plausible.
The updated five-page NIC assessment, the Journal reported, was "prepared in light of new intelligence, further study of the scientific literature and consultation with experts outside the government," and congressional Republicans are demanding more information.
According to the first US intelligence report of 2021, Covid-19 first spread in Wuhan, China, no later than November 2019, when three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology - who were allegedly involved in coronavirus research - became ill enough to require hospital treatment .
( The WSJ / The Guardian )
Featured image: MTI/Zoltán Balogh
