A declassified report from US intelligence agencies stated that there is no direct evidence linking the Covid-19 pandemic to an incident at China's Wuhan Institute of Virology, The Guardian reports.
However, the report acknowledged that the possibility of the virus originating from a laboratory could not be completely ruled out, and the exact origins of the pandemic remain unknown. The report highlighted the challenges and assumptions associated with both the natural and lab hypotheses.
While extensive research on coronaviruses had been conducted at the Wuhan Institute, no specific incident was found to have caused the outbreak. Intelligence officials have faced difficulties in determining the pandemic's origins due to China's lack of cooperation and obstruction of independent reviews.
The release of the report may spark further controversy, with Republicans accusing the administration of withholding information and researchers criticizing the perceived lack of transparency from the US. The debate surrounding the pandemic's origins has been ongoing since the first human cases were reported in Wuhan in late 2019.
President Joe Biden signed a bill in March to declassify information related to the origins of Covid-19, aiming to provide as much information as possible. Different US agencies hold varying assessments, with some suggesting natural transmission and others remaining undecided, while the Chinese government dismisses claims of a lab incident.
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