President Joe Biden and his officials believe China is hiding information about the COVID-19 origin, a complicated matter that the US administration has said it will pursue despite Beijing's concerns. Beijing has accused Washington of politicizing the probe.
The president indicated Wednesday that the US Intelligence Community has consolidated around two possible scenarios but has not reached a definitive verdict on this topic, in a rare peek into the ongoing investigation. "This virus began in China, and China has information about its origins that it hasn't shared with the rest of the world. Knowledge that we all need access to prevent the next pandemic," a senior administration official told Newsweek.
Biden admin investigates COVID-19 origin due to public outcry
The comments occurred two days after Biden released a statement. He provided an update on a US Intelligence Community assessment on the COVID-19 origin, which he commissioned in March, including whether it developed from human interaction with an infected animal or from a laboratory mishap. The administration's plot has shifted dramatically on the theory that the novel coronavirus escaped from a scientific institution. The Wuhan Institute of Virology is most commonly cited, a prestigious facility that deals with coronavirus research and is located in the city where the disease was first detected late last year.
Most analysts had previously disregarded the idea as far-fetched, and many still do. Biden's remark provoked outrage in Beijing, where Chinese officials have dismissed the lab leak theory as unsubstantiated and accused those who promote it of having political motivations.
During an exclusive interview with "Sunday Morning Futures," Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, stated that everything leads to the Wuhan lab when it comes to COVID-19 origin and that "we need to get to the bottom of it." Turner, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, stated that the Chinese government must be held accountable for COVID-19, as per Fox News.
On Sunday, the Ohio congressman told Maria Bartiromo that he believes the Biden administration is now looking into the origins of the new coronavirus because of the public outcry and a report released last month by House Intelligence Committee Republicans.
The Biden administration is pushing for a transparent international investigation into the COVID-19 pandemic origin, with the White House requesting data and information from China and the World Health Organization so that US officials may conclude. The White House has chastised the WHO and China for their phase one report's lack of transparency.
The assumption of zoonotic transmission, or spread of virus from animals to humans, was described as "likely to very likely" in that report, dismissing accusations that COVID-19 escaped from the Wuhan lab. It also said it was doubtful that the virus had leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
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GOP China Task Force Leader urges Chinese government to be punished
COVID-19 most likely emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology by accident rather than from an original natural animal-to-human infection, according to the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Rep. Michael McCaul, who led the GOP China Task Force and released a lengthy report in September alleging a Chinese Communist Party coronavirus cover-up and detailing severe concerns about the Wuhan lab. He pointed to the Chinese government lab as the likely source of the virus. The Chinese government should be punished for exacerbating the COVID-19 pandemic, McCaul said.
China's actions are unprecedented, as per the Task Force leader. "There were two State Department cables in 2018 that called into question the safety protocols at that lab. This is the worst cover-up in human history, resulting in 3.5 million deaths and economic devastation around the world," he continued, The Washington Examiner reported. They were examining bat-borne corona-like viruses, genetically altering them, and then trying to build a vaccine for the next wave of SARS-like viruses, which is nearly identical to COVID-19. China should be punished economically for its conduct during the pandemic, McCaul said.
Related Article: White House Accuses China of Obstructing WHO into COVID-19 Origin
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