Coronavirus emerged from Chinese lab accident, U.S. intelligence report suggests

Coronavirus emerged from Chinese lab accident, U.S. intelligence report suggests

The Financial Times reports that a U.S. intelligence agency believes that the COVID-19 virus likely emerged from China’s Wuhan lab, and that given “the dangerous nature of the science being carried out at the Wuhan lab and the lack of safety precautions,” it is “most likely” the “source of the pandemic.” As the Financial Times notes,

A US intelligence agency has spelt out for the first time how and why it thinks the virus that causes Covid-19 first jumped from animals to humans via an accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. According to the report, analysts at the unnamed agency believe the dangerous nature of the science being carried out at the Wuhan lab and the lack of safety precautions make it most likely that it is the source of the pandemic….the release of the report is likely to fuel the heated debate over whether China — and even the US, which funded research at the Wuhan lab — bears responsibility for the pandemic. It comes just days before Anthony Fauci, the head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies to Congress, where he is likely to be grilled on why he approved a $600,000 grant that was used for risky coronavirus research at Wuhan.

The agency that believes an accident happened at the Wuhan lab does so because of the type of research that was being conducted there and the fact that some of it was being done at relatively low biosafety levels. The Wall Street Journal revealed earlier this year that three researchers at the Wuhan lab fell ill in autumn 2019 with Covid-like symptoms. But the report said this did not in itself provide an answer to the question of how the pandemic started.

Hans Bader

Hans Bader

Hans Bader practices law in Washington, D.C. After studying economics and history at the University of Virginia and law at Harvard, he practiced civil-rights, international-trade, and constitutional law. He also once worked in the Education Department. Hans writes for CNSNews.com and has appeared on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal.” Contact him at hfb138@yahoo.com

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