Origin of the coronavirus: US changes position on pandemic; Look!

The US Department of Energy has changed its position on the origin of the coronavirus pandemic and stated that it is likely that the virus was spread by an accidental leak from the Wuhan Laboratory in the China. The new position appeared in a confidential report provided to the White House and key members of Congress.

The Department of Energy now joins the FBI, which reached this conclusion earlier. Four other agencies and a national intelligence panel still judge that it was likely the result of natural transmission, and two agencies are undecided. The update, which is less than five pages long, was not requested by Congress.

The US intelligence community is made up of 18 agencies, including offices in the Departments of Energy, State and Treasury. Eight of them participated in the review of the origins of Covid-19, along with the National Intelligence Council. The Department of Energy is an agency that has considerable scientific expertise and oversees a network of US national laboratories. The agency, however, made its judgment with "low confidence," according to people who read the confidential report. The FBI, for its part, has “moderate confidence” in this view.

What do the authorities say about the origin of the coronavirus?

US officials declined to elaborate on the new information that prompted the Department of Energy to change its position. They added that while the Department of Energy and the FBI say an unintentional leak of laboratorymore likely, they came to these conclusions for different reasons. Despite the differing analyses, the update reaffirms a consensus that the pandemic was not the result of a Chinese biological weapons program.

And the WHO?

The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, pledged to do “everything possible” to have a “response” about the origin of covid-19 and sent an official email to a high-ranking official of the Chinese government to ask for collaboration from Beijing. The WHO has started an investigation into the origins of the new coronavirus in 2021, but it still has no conclusions.

The Department of Energy update is relevant because it indicates that the virus is likely to have leaked from the wuhan, but it's important to note that there are still differences of opinion among US intelligence agencies about the origin of the pandemic. The confidential report was not requested by Congress and it is unclear whether a non-confidential version will be presented.

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