The United States Energy Department released a report that assessed that the origin of the coronavirus pandemic could be traced back to a laboratory leak in China.
On Sunday, it was reported that the US Energy Department updated its assessment of how the COVID-19 crisis started. Previously, authorities were undecided on the virus's origin, but they have not decided that the lab-leak theory is the most likely explanation.
COVID-19 Origins
Furthermore, officials shared an updated assessment, which they had low confidence in, in a classified intelligence report that they gave to the White House and key lawmakers-the update resulted in the Energy Department joining the FBI in supporting the lab-leak COVID-19 origin theory.
On the other hand, four agencies and a national intelligence panel believe that the virus resulted from the natural transmission, while two remained undecided. The origin of the health crisis has been the subject of hot debate for several years since its beginning, as per Fortune.
Health officials first reported the coronavirus circulating in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, and the city is known to have many laboratories, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology. It is the Chinese counterpart of the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The area also housed the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, the center of Beijing's coronavirus research. Many of the institute's laboratories were created and expanded after the SARS epidemic in the early 2000s.
But the city, like many others in the Asian nation, the city was home to many wet markets where animals were slaughtered and sold to customers. Various scientific experts support the theory that the coronavirus infection began in one of these markets.
Support For Lab Leak Theory
Despite the changed assessment, officials still need to provide details on the intelligence that led to it. However, many of the insights of the Energy Department come from the network of national laboratories that it oversees, according to the New York Times.
The situation comes as intelligence officials argue that scrutiny of the origin of the health crisis is crucial to improving global health response to new concerns. However, they cautioned that finding a concrete answer regarding the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult or impossible due to China's refusal to allow further research.
Health experts said that there is a responsibility to explain the origin of a health crisis that took the lives of nearly seven million people worldwide. They added that learning more about its beginnings could help researchers understand what future outbreaks would come from.
The United States National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, declined to comment regarding the agency's intelligence. However, he noted that President Joe Biden ordered national laboratories to be included in determining the COVID-19 pandemic's origins.
He wanted to put effort and resources behind the endeavor to get to the bottom of this situation and get results. According to Yahoo News, Sullivan noted that if they gain any further insight or information, they will share it with Congress and the American people.
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