Image source,Getty Images
US intelligence agencies said that they may never find the origin of the 2019 new crown virus, but it is certain that this is not an artificially developed biological and chemical weapon.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence of the United States issued an updated virus traceability assessment report. The report stated that the two hypotheses of human contact with infected animals and laboratory leaks are reasonable for explaining how the virus spreads. But there is not enough information to draw a clear conclusion.
China criticized the report.
This information comes from a declassified report. Previously, US President Biden asked intelligence agencies to submit a report on the origin of the new crown to him within 90 days. This report was submitted to the White House in August this year, but only the main points were notified to the outside world at that time.
In this report, different intelligence agencies have different attitudes on the matter. Four intelligence agencies believe that the virus may have been transmitted to humans by contact between humans and animals infected with the virus or close relatives of the virus. The degree of confidence in this conclusion is “low confidence”.
An intelligence agency pointed out that the first human infection with the new crown may have been caused by an accident in the Wuhan virus laboratory. The degree of confidence in this conclusion is “moderate confidence.”
Image source,Reuters
The South China Seafood Market in Wuhan was initially considered to be the earliest outbreak site of the epidemic.
The report also believes that Chinese officials were not aware of the existence of the virus before the initial outbreak of the Wuhan epidemic at the end of 2019. But at the same time, it is believed that China has continued to obstruct international investigations and is unwilling to share information.
Chinese authorities linked the early COVID-19 outbreak to a seafood market, leading scientists to point to a theoretical explanation of animal-to-human transmission.
But at the beginning of this year, the American media said that there is more and more evidence that the virus may have come from this laboratory in Wuhan, and it may have come from a leak caused by an accident.
US President Biden asked intelligence agencies to investigate the source of the virus in May, as well as laboratory leaks. China has always denied the laboratory leaks.
In response to a Reuters statement, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said that the United States’ reliance on intelligence agencies rather than scientists to trace the source of the virus is a political farce. “We support tracing in a scientific way and will continue to actively participate in the future. But we are opposed to politicizing this matter.”
As of now, the total number of global new crown infections is approximately 240 million, of which 4.9 million have died.
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