US Intelligence Agencies Report to Biden: 'Difficult to Conclude Origin of COVID-19'

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] It has been reported that U.S. President Joe Biden was officially briefed on the intelligence community's findings indicating that it is difficult to definitively determine the specific origin of COVID-19.

According to The Washington Post (WP), the U.S. intelligence community reported the results of their three-month investigation into the origins of COVID-19 to President Biden on the 24th (local time).

WP cited sources saying that the report did not contain a clear conclusion regarding the initial source and transmission path of COVID-19.

While the initial outbreak location of COVID-19 has been identified as China, various hypotheses about its origin have circulated.

These include the general theory of natural transmission from animals to humans, as well as the possibility of a leak from a laboratory in China.

As the U.S. intelligence community failed to reach a conclusion, the debate over the origin of COVID-19 is expected to return to square one.

Initially, two U.S. intelligence agencies supported the animal transmission theory, while another agency leaned toward the lab leak theory in China.

In this context, President Biden instructed U.S. intelligence agencies in May to "get closer to a definitive conclusion."

Accordingly, intelligence officials analyzed existing information and searched for new clues over 90 days but reportedly failed to reach a consensus.

WP explained that few expected a clear conclusion from this investigation from the start.

Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence (DNI), also said in a June interview with Yahoo News, "We hope to find the smoking gun (decisive evidence), but we might not."

There are also criticisms that the task was excessive for intelligence agencies that collect foreign information, as determining the origin requires scientific efforts such as global health data analysis.

WP reported that the U.S. intelligence community is considering declassifying the report prepared this time and releasing it within a few days.

With the announcement of a report lacking clear conclusions, the controversy surrounding the origin of COVID-19 is expected to continue.

The controversy over the origin of COVID-19 has been a factor fueling tensions between the U.S. and China.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump claimed during his tenure that the COVID-19 virus originated from a Chinese laboratory and that China should be held responsible for the global pandemic.

This claim has recently begun to receive renewed attention in the scientific community.

In May this year, 18 scientists sent a letter to the scientific journal Science urging a broad investigation of all hypotheses, including laboratory accidents.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO)
[Photo by AP Yonhap News]

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), also stated that it is too early to rule out the lab leak theory.

Supporters of the lab leak theory focus on information such as three employees of the Wuhan Virus Research Institute visiting widely frequented hospitals with flu-like symptoms in November 2019.

Wuhan is the site of the first cluster outbreak where COVID-19 was officially reported to WHO as an unknown pneumonia at the end of 2019.

Many scientists suspect the origin to be a market trading multiple species of wild animals for consumption, citing numerous zoonotic disease outbreaks.

According to a paper published in the scientific journal Nature in June, 38 species of wild animals were sold across 17 markets in Wuhan before the pandemic.

The global health community has long argued that the first step in determining the origin of COVID-19 is to find the initial source, the so-called 'patient zero (patient O)'.

Resolving key questions such as the timing, method, and cause of the outbreak would greatly aid in planning prevention policies to avoid future pandemics.

The WHO-led COVID-19 investigation team visited Wuhan, China, last February for this purpose but returned after a limited investigation without clear conclusions amid controversies over Chinese government surveillance.

The U.S. and WHO are demanding a local reinvestigation, but China firmly rejects this and is focusing on political counterattacks such as the theory of a leak from a U.S. military base.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.