COVID pandemic ‘most likely’ originated from Chinese lab, FBI chief says

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“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan.” 


— FBI Director Christopher Wray

The COVID-19 pandemic was likely started by a leak from a Chinese lab, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday.

“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Wray said in an interview with Fox News that aired Tuesday. “Here you are talking about a potential leak from a Chinese government-controlled lab.” 

Wray added that China has tried to “thwart and obfuscate” the global investigation into the origins of the pandemic.

Wray’s comments followed a report Sunday by the Wall Street Journal that the U.S. Energy Department has concluded with “low confidence” that the COVID-19 virus escaped from a Chinese lab, a shift from its previously undecided assessment. In that report, the Journal said the FBI also believed, with “moderate confidence,” that the virus had escaped from a lab in China.

Also see: With Wuhan lab-leak theory back in headlines, China claims it’s been open and transparent in quest to determine origin of SARS-CoV-2 virus

National security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN on Sunday that U.S. intelligence agencies have not come to a single conclusion about the origin of the pandemic that has killed nearly 7 million people worldwide, including more than 1 million Americans, according to Johns Hopkins data.

Four other U.S. intelligence agencies, along with a national intelligence panel, have concluded COVID-19 originated and spread naturally.

The Journal reported Sunday that there was consensus, however, among U.S. agencies that the virus was not the result of a biological-weapons program.

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