Department Of Energy Says COVID-19 Likely Originated In Lab

According to an updated classified intelligence study, the United States Department of Energy has determined that the Covid-19 epidemic most likely originated from a laboratory leak in China.

According to two sources, the Department of Energy determined in the intelligence assessment that it had “low confidence” that the Covid-19 virus accidentally escaped from a lab in Wuhan.

Assessments can be made by intelligence services with varying degrees of confidence, including low, medium, or high. A low confidence assessment in most cases indicates that the information obtained is either not reliable enough or is too fragmented to make a more definitive judgment, or that there is not enough information available to draw a more concrete conclusion.

The disagreement inside the U.S. government regarding whether the Covid-19 epidemic started in China because of a lab breach or whether it evolved organically is widened by the most recent assessment.

Whether or not COVID-19 originated from a lab in Wuhan is something various intelligence services have disagreed on since nearly the beginning of the pandemic. In 2021, the intelligence community declassified a report that revealed four agencies had evaluated the likelihood that the virus naturally spread from animals to humans in the wild with low confidence, while one agency had evaluated the prospect that the pandemic was the result of a laboratory accident with moderate confidence.

According to the study, three other agencies within the intelligence community were unable to agree on either of the two possible explanations without receiving additional information.

The Wall Street Journal was the first news outlet to report on the Department of Energy’s newly released assessment. According to a senior US intelligence officer who spoke with the Journal, an update to the intelligence assessment was carried out because of fresh intelligence, deeper investigation of academic literature, and consultation with specialists from outside the government.

“The Department of Energy continues to support the thorough, careful, and objective work of our intelligence professionals in investigating the origins of COVID-19, as the President directed,” a spokesperson for the Department of Energy told CNN.

Of the 18 government agencies that comprise the intelligence community, the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence at the Department of Energy falls under the purview of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. This office is responsible for gathering and analyzing intelligence related to the Department of Energy.

During a routine briefing on Monday, a question was made concerning the reportedly conducted assessment, and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded by arguing against the claim. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied the finding of the Department of Energy.

Spokesperson Mao Ning pointed to the “authoritative and scientific” conclusion reached after a 2021 field mission between Chinese and World Health Organization experts. They determined it was “highly unlikely” the virus and subsequent worldwide pandemic was the result of a lab leak in Wuhan. That effort was heavily criticized by Western Nations, citing a lack of transparency.

“The parties concerned should stop stirring up arguments about laboratory leaks, stop smearing China and stop politicizing the issue of the virus origin,” Mao said.

Around the same time that China became known as the source of Covid-19, whether it occurred naturally or in a lab, Asian Americans suffered a spike in prejudice and race-targeted attacks, which is generally related to the epidemic. According to a report published in 2022 by the organization Stop AAPI Hate, there were over 11,500 reported acts of hate in the United States between March 19, 2020 and March 31, 2022.