The Washington Examiner reports that one U.S. intelligence agency, out of several that were part of an investigation, now has “moderate confidence” that the COVID-19 pandemic originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).
The opposing theory is that COVID-19 was naturally transmitted by an animal to a human, and, although it has lost some support, some are sticking to that particular origin story, presumably as it’s less politically aggravating.
The new information comes from a highly anticipated, recently released report from the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
“Moderate confidence”
According to the ODNI report, one U.S. intelligence agency now has “moderate confidence” that “the first human infection with SARS-CoV-2 most likely was the result of a laboratory-associated incident, probably involving experimentation, animal handling, or sampling.”
The report also states that four other U.S. intelligence agencies have “low confidence” in the natural, animal-transmission origin theory.
Unfortunately for Americans and for the scientific community, the specific views of the various U.S. intelligence agencies involved in the investigation are being kept secret.
However, the agency that expressed it had “moderate confidence” in the lab leak theory, according to the ODNI report, gave “weight to the inherently risky nature of work on coronaviruses,” which the WIV was conducting prior to the global pandemic. The unnamed agencies with “low confidence” in the natural origin theory, on the other hand, gave weight, according to the ODNI, “to China’s officials’ lack of foreknowledge” and to “numerous vectors for natural exposure.
The intel agencies further believe that COVID-19 likely came into existence no later than November 2019. In addition, they also believe that COVID-19 was not developed as a “biological weapon” and was not genetically engineered, although the jury is still out on the latter claim.
The problem
As one can immediately deduce after browsing the ODNI report, it’s far from definitive. The primary reason for that is because of China and the shroud of silence and secrecy they immediately deployed after the virus became a global pandemic that killed millions.
China has refused to allow further investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Until such an investigation takes place, which will likely never happen, the world will probably never truly know what caused COVID-19 to wreak havoc on the entire world.
According to Newsweek, President Joe Biden, this week, called upon China to let such an investigation take place, however, such a call is not likely to be taken seriously, especially now that China has seen how weak and ineffective Biden’s presidency has been in his first year in office.
The initial investigation, carried out by China and the World Health Organization (WHO), found the WIV lab leak theory to be “extremely unlikely.” More recently, reports have called that finding into question.
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