China has reiterated that a laboratory leak of Covid-19 is “extremely unlikely,” citing findings from the China-WHO joint expert team that conducted field visits to Wuhan laboratories.
“This conclusion has been widely recognized by both the international and scientific communities,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.
However, the CIA stated on Saturday that the virus was “more likely” to have leaked from a Chinese lab than to have originated naturally from animals. The assessment was made after John Ratcliffe was confirmed as the CIA director under Donald Trump’s second administration.
“The CIA assesses with low confidence that a research-related origin of the Covid-19 pandemic is more likely than a natural origin, based on the available body of reporting,” a CIA spokesperson said.
Beijing has strongly rejected these claims, urging Washington to “stop politicizing and instrumentalizing” the search for Covid-19’s origins. Mao also called on the U.S. to “stop smearing and shifting blame” and to address the concerns of the international community.
