US intelligence agencies maintain that there is still there is no consensus on the origins of the covid-19 virusdespite some differences in trust levels that Republicans have tried to use as a political club once morest the Biden Administration.
“All agencies assess that two hypotheses are plausible explanations for the origin of covid-19: the natural exposure to an infected animal and a laboratory-associated incidentthe Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a report filed Wednesday for a Senate Intelligence committee hearing.
Intelligence agencies continue to investigate how the virus first infected humans, according to the assessment, which has not changed since last year.
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Republicans have been trying to exploit divisions among US agencies over the origins of the virus following the recent disclosure of an Energy Department assessment that the virus was the result of a laboratory leak, despite the fact that that conclusion received a “low confidence” rating.
FBI Director Christopher Wray, who will testify at Wednesday’s hearing, told Fox News last week that “the FBI has long assessed that the origins of the pandemic are likely to be a possible laboratory incident in Wuhan.”
China has rejected the idea of a laboratory leak and the scientific consensus has been that the pandemic began when the coronavirus jumped from animals to people. The World Health Organization (WHO) said that all hypotheses regarding the origin of the covid-19 pandemic remain on the table.
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However, the Chinese government’s lack of transparency means that “we may never be absolutely sure where it might have originated Covid-19, or God forbid, the next pandemic,” Senate Intelligence Chairman Mark Warner said during the hearing.
“That these questions are even necessary is a testament to the failures of the Chinese system and stands in stark contrast to the openness of our own public health officials during the pandemic,” said Warner, a Virginia Democrat.
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