The CIA said the coronavirus had a laboratory origin
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimates that the coronavirus (COVID-19) probably originated in a laboratory and not in nature. This was stated by Reuters on Saturday, January 25, citing an interlocutor.
"The CIA has said for years that it could not conclude whether COVID-19 was the result of a laboratory incident or originated in nature. But in the final weeks of the Biden administration, former CIA Director William Burns asked CIA analysts and scientists to make a clear determination, emphasizing the historical significance of the pandemic," the agency quoted a senior US official as saying.
At the same time, the CIA is not confident enough in its assessment of the causes of the virus: both scenarios - laboratory and natural origin of COVID - remain plausible.
The day before, new CIA Director John Ratcliffe said that one of his top priorities is for his agency to conduct a public assessment of the causes of the coronavirus pandemic.
As you know, I have stated publicly that I believe our intelligence, our science and our common sense actually says that COVID-19 was caused by a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology," he said.
On Jan. 25, newly elected U.S. President-elect Donald Trump stripped his former COVID-19 advisor Anthony Fauci of his security detail. When asked by a reporter if he would feel partially responsible if something happened to Fauci, the president answered in the negative.
Earlier on January 23, Trump's team began drafting an executive order that would suspend funding for virus research. The executive order would deny U.S. funding to scientists while conducting research that alters viruses and explores their new capabilities. According to WSJ, some Republicans believe that similar research in China's Wuhan led to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is noted that the content of the decree is still under discussion, it may not apply to the avian influenza virus (H5N1) and a number of other infections.
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