FBI Director: Chinese lab breach was likely root of COVID pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic, according to the FBI’s assessment, was most likely generated by a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray on February 28, Reuters reported.

According to Wray of Fox News, “the FBI has assessed for quite some time that the origins of the epidemic are most likely a probable lab incident in Wuhan.” His remarks come in response to a Wall Street Journal report stating that the US Energy Department has low confidence that the outbreak was caused by an unintentional laboratory leak in China.

According to the Journal, two agencies are uncertain, while four other agencies and a national intelligence body continue to believe that the pandemic was most likely caused by natural transmission.

The US government has not come to a firm decision and consensus regarding the causes of the epidemic, according to White House national security spokesperson John Kirby.

Jake Sullivan, a national security advisor to President Joe Biden, stated that there are “many opinions in the intelligence community” regarding the causes of the pandemic.

Many of them have stated that they simply lack the necessary knowledge, Sullivan told CNN.

When questioned about the Wall Street Journal allegation, which was corroborated by other US media, China’s foreign ministry cited a WHO-China assessment that suggested a natural genesis for the pandemic rather than a lab leak.
According to Mao, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, “some parties should cease repeating the ‘lab leak’ story, stop defaming China, and stop making the origins-tracing matter political.”

Several of the specifics of the agency’s evaluation, according to Wray, were secret and he was unable to disclose them.
The Chinese government, according to him, is “doing its best to attempt to frustrate and obscure” American and international efforts to find out more about the pandemic’s roots.

At a US Chamber of Commerce event, US ambassador to China Nicholas Burns spoke via video link and urged China to be “more honest” about what occurred in Wuhan three years ago that led to the COVID-19 crisis.

When asked about the current state of US-China ties at the Chamber event, Burns said that Beijing was attempting to shift responsibility after the US military this month shot down an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon that had flown over the entire country.

Recently, US-China tensions have increased significantly due to China’s more assertive military stance toward Taiwan, rumors that China may be helping Russia’s war against Ukraine, and the US shooting down a Chinese balloon on February 4 on suspicion of espionage above US territory.