Coronavirus leaked from China lab: FBI chief

Covid’s origin has been the subject of vigorous debate among academics, intelligence experts and lawmakers, according to a report in WSJ.

International

oi-Prakash KL

Days
after
the
US
Department
of
Energy
(USDE)
said
in
a
report
that
the
coronavirus
was
most
likely
leaked
from
a
bio-laboratory
of
Wuhan
in
China,
the
country’s
premier
investigating
agency
Federal
Bureau
of
Investigation
(FBI)
confirmed
it
on
Wednesday.

“FBI
Director
Christopher
Wray
confirmed
that
the
Bureau
has
assessed
that
the
origins
of
the
COVID-19
pandemic
likely
originated
from
a
lab
incident
in
Wuhan,
China,”
tweeted
the
FBI.

“The
FBI
has
for
quite
some
time
now
assessed
that
the
origins
of
the
pandemic
are
most
likely
a
potential
lab
incident
in
Wuhan…
I
will
just
make
the
observation
that
the
Chinese
government…
has
been
doing
its
best
to
try
to
thwart
and
obfuscate
the
work
here,
the
work
that
we’re
doing,
the
work
that
our
US
government
and
close
foreign
partners
are
doing,”
news
agency
ANI
quoted
the
FBI
chief
as
saying.

As
leaked
report
claims
25
cr
affected
by
coronavirus,
China
stops
publishing
daily
Covid
updates

USDE
has
now
joined
the
FBI
in
saying
the
virus
likely
spread
via
a
mishap
at
a
Chinese
laboratory,
reported
Wall
Street
Journal
(WSJ).
The
department’s
conclusion
is
the
result
of
new
intelligence
and
is
significant
because
the
agency
has
considerable
scientific
expertise
and
oversees
a
network
of
US
national
laboratories,
some
of
which
conduct
advanced
biological
research.

The
department’s
insights
come
from
its
network
of
national
laboratories,
some
of
which
conduct
biological
research,
rather
than
more
traditional
forms
of
intelligence
like
spy
networks
or
communication
intercepts.

The
novel
coronavirus
first
circulated
in
Wuhan
city,
not
later
than
November
2019,
according
to
the
US
2021
intelligence
report.
The
pandemic’s
origin
has
been
the
subject
of
vigorous
debate
among
academics,
intelligence
experts
and
lawmakers,
according
to
a
report
in
WSJ.

From
its
origin
there,
the
SARS-CoV-2
virus
rapidly
spread
to
other
locations
outside
Wuhan
in
late
2019
and
then
to
the
rest
of
the
world,
killing
nearly
70
lakh
people.
A
World
Health
Organisation
(WHO)
team
of
experts
who
visited
Wuhan
in
2021
amid
the
raging
controversy
over
the
lab
leak
theory,
which
China
vehemently
denied,
stated
in
its
report
that
the
leak
from
the
Wuhan
bio-lab
was
the
“least
likely
hypothesis”.

But
WHO
Director-General
Dr.
Tedros
Adhanom
Ghebreyesus,
who
received
the
report,
said
the
Wuhan
lab
leak
allegation
required
further
probe.
“As
far
as
the
WHO
is
concerned,
all
hypotheses
remain
on
the
table,”
PTI
quoted
Ghebreyesus
as
saying.

Even
after
around
3
years
since
Covid-19
was
first
detected
in
Wuhan,
the
question
of
how
and
from
where
the
virus
first
emerged
remains
a
mystery.
It
is
suspected
that
the
coronavirus
may
have
escaped,
accidentally
or
otherwise,
from
a
laboratory
in
the
central
Chinese
city
of
Wuhan
where
the
virus
was
first
recorded.
The
Wuhan
Institute
of
Virology
(WIV)
has
been
studying
coronaviruses
in
bats
for
over
a
decade.

The
USDE
assessment
further
adds
to
the
divide
in
the
US
government
over
whether
the
Covid-19
pandemic
began
in
China
in
2019
as
the
result
of
a
lab
leak
or
whether
it
emerged
naturally.
The
various
intelligence
agencies
have
been
split
on
the
matter
for
years.

In
2021,
the
intelligence
community
declassified
a
report
that
showed
four
agencies
in
the
intelligence
community
had
assessed
with
low
confidence
that
the
virus
likely
jumped
from
animals
to
humans
naturally
in
the
wild,
while
one
assessed
with
moderate
confidence
that
the
pandemic
was
the
result
of
a
laboratory
accident,
the
CNN
report
said.
A
USDE
spokesperson
in
a
statement
to
CNN
said,
“The
Department
of
Energy
continues
to
support
the
thorough,
careful
and
objective
work
of
our
intelligence
professionals
in
investigating
the
origins
of
COVID-19,
as
the
President
directed.”

WHO
says
‘not
there
yet’
on
coronavirus

USDE’s
Office
of
Intelligence
and
Counterintelligence
is
one
of
the
18
government
agencies
that
make
up
the
intelligence
community,
which
is
under
the
umbrella
of
the
Office
of
the
Director
of
National
Intelligence,
which
declined
to
comment
on
the
issue.

The
controversial
lab
leak
theory
first
emerged
early
on
in
the
pandemic
and
was
promoted
by
then
US
President
Donald
Trump.
China
has
rejected
the
claim
that
the
virus
may
have
escaped
from
a
laboratory,
calling
it
a
‘smear’
and
suggesting
the
coronavirus
may
have
entered
the
country
in
food
shipments
from
another
country.
Given
the
massive
human
toll
of
the
pandemic,
most
scientists
think
understanding
how
and
where
the
virus
originated
is
crucial
to
prevent
it
from
happening
again.

However,
China
has
again
rejected
new
US
reports
saying
the
origin-tracing
of
the
pandemic
“is
about
science
and
should
not
be
politicised.” Its
Foreign
Ministry
spokesperson
Mao
Ning
said
the
international
experts
have
considered
the
theory
that
the
pandemic
might
have
leaked
from
a
Chinese
laboratory
as
“extremely
unlikely”.

With
inputs
from
agencies