COVID-19 may have developed naturally says US; Doesn't rule out Wuhan lab leak theory

In view of heightened worldwide curiosity about the origin of COVID-19, the US intelligence community acknowledged that its agencies had two theories about the coronavirus origins. While two agencies conclude the novel coronavirus emerged naturally from human contact with infected animals, the third one believes it was developed in laboratories at Wuhan thus, affirming the 'lab leak theory'. 

The office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) for Strategic Communications Amanda Schoch issued a statement on COVID-19 origins indicating an intelligence community divided over rival theories. ODNI informed that while two elements of the intel community "lean toward the former scenario and one leans more toward the latter -- each with low or moderate confidence -- the majority of elements within the IC do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other".

Statement read, “The U.S. Intelligence Community does not know exactly where, when, or how the COVID-19 virus was transmitted initially but has coalesced around two likely scenarios: either it emerged naturally from human contact with infected animals or it was a laboratory accident."

"While two elements of the IC lean toward the former scenario and one leans more toward the latter - each with low or moderate confidence - the majority of elements within the IC do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other."

A source of intelligence community analysis stated that neither the CIA nor the Defence Intelligence Agency currently favoured either alternative explanations on coronavirus origin, adding without hesitance that they were among the large majority US agencies that believe available information at present is inadequate to conclude that one scenario was more likely than the other. 

No Conclusive Reports Yet

This development surfaced a day after The President asked US intelligence agencies to prepare a report on the latest and updated analysis of the origins of COVID-19 within 90 days. The need to outline a definite and absolute history of the novel coronavirus holds relevance against nerve-racking months the virus has brought about. 

In a statement released by the White House, Biden informed that he was in receipt of a report from the intelligence agencies on COVID-19 origins, which reportedly hailed from China in late 2019, however, it was inconclusive. Therefore, this time President Biden has asked authorities to "redouble their efforts to collect and analyze information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion". 

COVID-19 origins

COVID-19 was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. So far, more than 168 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed worldwide and over 3.5 million deaths have been reported. While the coronavirus origin remains a widely debated topic among few scientists and delegates who maintain the possibility of a lab leak of the deadly virus exists. 

The Wuhan Institute of Virology is situated close to the COVID-19 outbreak epicentre of the Huanan Seafood Market in central China's Wuhan City. The virus first emerged in late 2019, later being declared a pandemic.