The US agency points out that COVID-19 may have originated from a leak in a Chinese lab, and Beijing rejects the “slander”.

Department of Energy USA believes that the coronavirus pandemic likely arose from a leak in Chinese laboratoryalthough the White House said Sunday that US intelligence is divided on the issue.

The statement, contained in a classified report from the office of Avril Hein, director of national intelligence, marks a change in position at the Department of Energy, which had previously been undecided on the source of the information. virus.

People with access to the classified report, cited by the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, say the department issued its decision with “low certainty,” stressing that various U.S. agencies continue to disagree on origins. COVID-19, pandemic that have been hitting the world since the start of 2020.

The conclusion resulting from the alleged new intelligence analysis is significant because this department oversees the national network of laboratories, including those that conduct advanced biological research.

So the department joins the FBI, believing that pandemicwhich claimed almost 7 million lives worldwide, was the result of an accident in a laboratory in China.

Four US intelligence agencies believe that COVID-19 according to the Wall Street Journal, it arose by natural transmission, while the other two are yet to be resolved.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stressed that “differing positions” remain on the issue. “The intelligence community does not currently have a definitive answer to this question,” he told CNN on Sunday.

China rejects new hypothesis

On Monday, China expressed regret at being the target of “defamation” after US agencies concluded that COVID-19 “most likely” was due to a leak in a Chinese lab.

“Tracking the origin of the coronavirus is a scientific matter and should not be politicized. Interested parties should stop inflating the theory of laboratory leaks and slandering China,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press conference.

China insists on opposing “any type of political manipulation” regarding the origins of COVID-19 and has repeatedly criticized Washington following reports from its intelligence services that, despite failing to reach a consensus on the origin of the virus, they do not rule out that it was the product of a lab accident.

Officials in the Asian country refer to a report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2021 after visiting the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the first cases of coronavirus infection began to spread. COVID-19 in 2019.

In this report, the researchers left open four hypotheses about the origin of the pandemic, but said that more research is needed to reach a definitive conclusion. (According to EFE and AFP)