U.S. intelligence agencies weren’t able to determine whether researchers at a laboratory in Wuhan, China, who fell sick in the fall of 2019 were infected with COVID-19, which soon spread around the world, according to a declassified report released Friday.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence unveiled details about scientists at Wuhan Institute of Virology who fell ill in 2019 before the first documented COVID-19 infections, as well as coronavirus research conducted at the lab by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. However, none of the released intelligence definitively pointed to lab-related work as the cause of the pandemic, which has caused nearly 7 million deaths.
The report comes months after U.S. President Joe Biden signed a bill into law requiring declassification of intelligence related to the pandemic’s potential links to the lab.
It’s far from the final word on how the pandemic started. Intelligence officials have said they’re still seeking key information from China.
When President Biden signed the Covid-19 Origin Act, he directed the intelligence community to use every tool at its disposal to investigate the origin of Covid-19, White House National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge said in an emailed statement. The release of this report reflects that commitment to declassify and share as much information as possible related to the origins of Covid-19, while protecting sources and methods.
