WASHINGTON — The US Department of Energy notes that the coronavirus pandemic likely arose from a leak in a Chinese laboratory, a report Chinese authorities firmly rejected on Monday.
The claim, contained in a classified report by the office of Avril Haine, National Director of Intelligence, it marks a shift in stance at the Department of Energy, which had previously been undecided about the origin of the virus.
People with access to the classified report, quoted by the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, say the department made its judgment with “low confidence,” highlighting how different US agencies remain divided on the origins of the COVID-19, the pandemic that hit the world at the beginning of 2020.
The finding, the result of a new intelligence analysis, is significant because that department oversees a national network of laboratories, including some that conduct advanced biological research.
Thus, the department joins the FBI in the belief that the pandemic, which left nearly 7 million deaths worldwide, was the result of a laboratory accident in China.
China strongly rejected this Monday the hypothesis that the US Department of Energy now favors and said it felt “dirty” by these new accusations.
Still, the White House said Sunday that US intelligence is divided on the issue. But China has so far been uncooperative in scientific investigations, and experts have failed to discover the root cause three years after the virus first emerged.
Four US intelligence agencies believe that COVID arose through natural transmission, while two others have yet to decide, according to the Wall Street Journal.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stressed that “a variety of positions” still persist around the issue.
“Right now there is no definitive answer that has come out of the intelligence community on this question,” he told CNN on Sunday.
For its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that it had not received any information about the US Department of Energy’s inquiries and that it continues to examine “all available scientific evidence,” according to its spokesman, Tarik Jasarevic.
“We urge China and the scientific community to carry out the necessary studies” to determine the origin of the virus, he added. “Until we have more evidence, all hypotheses are on the table.”
In mid-February, the WHO vowed to do everything it could “until we find the answer” about the origins of COVID, refuting a report that suggested the UN body had abandoned the investigation.
FUENTE: With information from AFP and Europa Press
