February 27, 2023, 12:06 PM
February 27, 2023, 12:06 PM
He United States Department of Energy that the coronavirus pandemic likely arose from a leak in a Chinese laboratory, a report Chinese authorities firmly rejected on Monday.
The assertion, recorded in a classified report by the office of Avril Haine, Director of National Intelligence, marks a shift in position at the Department of Energy, which had previously been undecided on the origin of the virus.
People with access to the classified report, cited by the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, say the department made its judgment with “low confidence,” highlighting how differentUS agencies remain divided on the origins of covid-19, lThe pandemic that hit the world at the beginning of 2020.
The conclusion, the result of an alleged new intelligence analysis, It’s significant because that department oversees a national network of laboratories, including some that do advanced biological research.
Thus, the department joins the FBI in believing that the pandemic, which left nearly 7 million deaths worldwide, was the result of a laboratory accident in China.
China strongly rejected the hypothesis on Monday that now favors the US Department of Energy and said she felt “dirty” by these new accusations.
Yet the White House held on Sunday that US intelligence is divided on the issue.
Four US intelligence agencies believe that the covid arose by natural transmission, while two others have not yet been decided, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The adviser of White House Homeland Security Jake Sullivan, dHe 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 inquiries from the US Department of Energy and that it continues to examine “all available scientific evidence,” its spokesman, Tarik Jasarevic, told AFP. .
“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 possible “until we find the answer” about the origins of covid, refuting a report that suggested the UN body had abandoned the investigation.
