What is certain is that the origins of SARS-CoV-2 are far from clear. In a long-awaited report, US intelligence has displayed its divisions on the origins of the virus, agreeing that it was not developed “as a biological weapon”, and was “probably” not designed. “Genetically”. If four agencies favor a first animal contamination, another leans for a laboratory accident.
Joe Biden, who commissioned the report, accused China of withholding “crucial information about the origins of the pandemic.” Fifth classified top secret report was submitted this week to the US president, who had given 90 days to the US intelligence services to “redouble their efforts” to explain the origin of the Covid-19.
A laboratory accident not excluded
US intelligence is still divided between the hypothesis of a first case caused by natural exposure to an infected animal, or having resulted from a laboratory accident.
In detail, four intelligence agencies and the National Intelligence Council believe with “a low degree of confidence” that the animal thesis is the most “probable”. They rely in particular, to justify their verdict, on “the many vectors for animal exposure” existing, as well as the ignorance by China of the existence of the virus before its appearance.
“The intelligence community of the United States judges that Chinese officials had no prior knowledge of the virus before the start of the epidemic,” he is in fact written in this summary.
However, another intelligence agency considers on the contrary with “a moderate level of confidence” that the thesis of a laboratory leak is to be favored, “probably” via “experiments, the handling of animals, or samples by the ‘Wuhan Institute of Virology’.
Finally, “analysts from three agencies” do not decide between one or the other of the hypotheses. The intelligence services consider themselves “unable to provide a more definitive explanation” for the origin of Covid-19 without “new information” provided by China, they write.
“To this day, China continues to reject calls for transparency and to hide information, even as the toll of this pandemic continues to climb,” Joe Biden added in his statement.