The US Energy Department now believes that an accidental laboratory leak is the “most likely” origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The explosive claim was reportedly made in a recent intelligence briefing given to the White House and top members of Congress, with the caveat that it was made with “low confidence”.
Different US federal agencies remain divided on the controversial “lab leak” theory, which is backed by the Energy Department and the FBI but opposed by five other government bodies.
Still, the Energy Department’s judgement carries weight because it employs many expert scientists and conducts high-end research into viruses and diseases.
The report is likely to bolster politicians, researchers, and commentators who argue that Covid-19, which has killed more than 6.9 million people across the world including 1.1 million in the US, may have escaped from a Chinese research laboratory.
Although the Journal’s report contains no indication that the Energy Department mentioned China specifically, most lab leak proponents focus on the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Hubei province, where Covid-19 first began speading among humans.
Such theories have sparked bitter scientific and political argument across the world since the first months of the pandemic, from measured calls for further investigation through conspiratorial claims about Communist bio-weapons to accusations of anti-Chinese racism.
China insists that the lab leak theory is “a lie concocted by anti-China forces for political purposes”, while the World Health Organisation (WHO), which originally called it “extremely unlikely”, has since said further investigation is required.
According to the Journal, the US Energy Department’s shift of stance came in an update to a 2021 report by the US National Intelligence Council (NIC), summarising what US spy agencies have concluded about the lab leak theory.
All agencies reportedly remain confident that Covid-19 was not developed as a biological weapon and that Chinese officials did not have any “foreknowledge” of it before its outbreak in 2019.
Four US agencies and the NIC itself have also concluded “with low confidence” that the virus emerged naturally from transmission between animals and humans, rather than from a lab leak.
By contrast, the FBI believes with “moderate confidence” that a lab leak is the most likely answer, while two other agencies – said to include the CIA –remain on the fence.
This story is developing and will be updated.
