COVID-19 origin probe: US calls for China to participate in 'evidence-based investigation'

In view of escalated curiosity regarding COVID-19 origin globally, US President Joe Biden on Wednesday reaffirmed his intention to get to the bottom of the origins of the novel coronavirus. 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. 

Strengthening the solid intentions to probe COVID-19 origins, the White House's statement read,

"The United States will also keep working with like-minded partners around the world to press China to participate in a full, transparent, evidence-based international investigation and to provide access to all relevant data and evidence."

President Joe Biden took to his official Twitter handle to establish,

This surfaces a day after the White House opined that the World Health Organisation (WHO) and China ought to participate in a more transparent, evidence-based investigation in order to attain an unambiguous answer in the matter. White House has also deemed the investigation into the origin a "critical priority" and urged more transparency. Currently, the need to trace COVID-19 origins and extensive probe have been sought by officials worldwide.

No Conclusive Reports Yet

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". 

Joe Biden claimed that the US was determined to associate with like-minded partners across the globe to press China to participate in a definitive, transparent and evidence-based investigation. He urged China to provide an access to relevant facts, data and evidence. 

According to reports, the primary query remains whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident.

Igniting stir to a seeker's mind, Biden said, "As of today, the U.S. Intelligence Community has “coalesced around two likely scenarios” but has not reached a definitive conclusion on this question. Here is their current position: “while two elements in the IC leans toward the former scenario and one leans more toward the latter – each with low or moderate confidence – the majority of elements do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other.”

"As part of that report, I have asked for areas of further inquiry that may be required, including specific questions for China."

Wuhan Lab Leak Theory

It is pertinent to note that intensifying probe into COVID-19 origins globally holds relevance days after a previously undisclosed and controversial Wall Street report propelled conspiracies claiming three researchers from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) sought hospital care after they fell sick in November 2019. This was a month prior to Beijing's opening report of COVID-like symptoms in a patient. 

Fueling speculation on COVID-19 lab leak theory, the confidential US report read, "The US government has reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illness."

When speculation is such- the virus escaped from the Chinese laboratories, we know the outcome is relevant, irrespective. Therefore, a fuller and amplified investigation coupled with the WHO acumen will settle the commotion.