US INTELLIGENCE REPORT
The US National Intelligence Council and four other US intel agencies previously concluded that human contact with an infected animal was the “most likely” cause of the Covid pandemic. This stance has been bolstered by the latest report by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) on 23 June 2023.
The ODNI published its review on Friday, after investigating “potential links” between the Covid-19 pandemic and the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) located in central China.
After reviewing the known capabilities of the Wuhan facility and the actions of its personnel in the lead-up to the outbreak, the office found “no indication that the WIV’s pre-pandemic research holdings included SARSCoV-2 or a close progenitor,” nor any direct evidence that “a specific research-related incident occurred involving WIV personnel before the pandemic that could have caused the Covid pandemic.”
The ODNI published the document under a law signed in March, which directed the government to declassify material related to the genesis of the global health crisis.
China has repeatedly denied claims that the virus escaped from the biosafety level 4 lab – which stores the most lethal pathogens under strict security protocols – rejecting the theory as a way to smear China’s image abroad.
China Foreign Ministry officials have accused Washington of “spreading myths” about the pandemic, and previously called on the World Health Organization to launch a new origins probe in the US mirroring similar investigations conducted in China.
Source: RT News, 24 June 2023.
See also: Global Times, ‘Why US labs need to be investigated for origins of Covid19’. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1227219.shtml