Categories: Health

US report says Covid mystery can be solved only if China gives more info on Wuhan outbreak

<p>
The U.S. intelligence agencies have stated in a report released on Friday that the debate over whether a Chinese laboratory incident was the source of COVID-19 cannot be resolved unless China provides more information.</p>
<p>
The report concluded that analysts would not be able to provide "a more definitive explanation" without new information from China, such as clinical samples and epidemiological data about the earliest cases.</p>
<p>
President Joe Biden, who ordered the investigation, said Washington and its allies will continue to press China for answers.</p>
<p>
"Critical information about the origins of this pandemic exists in the People's Republic of China, yet from the beginning, government officials in China have worked to prevent international investigators and members of the global public health community from accessing it," Biden said in a statement after the summary was released.</p>
<p>
"The world deserves answers, and I will not rest until we get them," he added.</p>
<p>
<strong>Also read:</strong>  <a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/health-news/who-urges-china-to-facilitate-study-into-origins-of-covid-at-wuhan-107483.html">WHO urges China to facilitate study into origins of COVID-19 at Wuhan</a></p>
<p>
The pandemic, which has claimed nearly 4.5 million lives around the world, was first triggered from the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019.</p>
<p>
The report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the US intelligence community remains divided on the most likely origin of Covid-19.</p>
<p>
"All agencies assess that two hypotheses are plausible: natural exposure to an infected animal and a laboratory-associated incident."</p>
<p>
The report is likely to worsen the already tense relations between the US and China.</p>
<p>
China's embassy in Washington issued a statement saying the report "wrongly claimed that China continued to hinder the investigation… A report fabricated by the U.S. intelligence community is not scientifically credible."</p>
<p>
"The origin-tracing is a matter of science; it should and can only be left to scientists, not intelligence experts," it said.</p>
<p>
China has opposed a theory that coronavirus escaped from a lab in Wuhan. It has in fact hit back with its own purported theories including that it slipped out of a lab at the U.S. Army's Fort Detrick base in Maryland in 2019.</p>
<p>
Several organizations within the huge U.S. intelligence community thought the novel coronavirus emerged from "natural exposure to an animal infected with it or a close progenitor virus," according to the new report.</p>
<p>
But they had only "low confidence" in that conclusion, it said. Other groups were not able to come to any firm opinion at all on the origins.</p>
<p>
One intelligence community segment, however, developed "moderate confidence" the first human infection with COVID-19 was likely due to a "laboratory-associated incident, probably involving experimentation, animal handling, or sampling by the Wuhan Institute of Virology."</p>
<p>
Initially, U.S. intelligence agencies strongly favoured the explanation that the virus originated in nature. But people familiar with intelligence reporting have said there has been little corroboration over recent months that the virus had spread widely and naturally among wild animals.</p>

IN Bureau

Recent Posts

India and Kyrgyzstan’s BIT comes into force, strengthen economic ties

The new Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between India and the Kyrgyz Republic comes into force…

7 hours ago

EAM Jaishankar meets Foreign Ministers of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan in Delhi

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met the Foreign Ministers of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan on…

9 hours ago

“India’s maritime prowess soars, global collaborations give thrust to Make in India”: Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal

The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW), Sarbananda Sonowal, attended the MoU signing…

9 hours ago

Over 30 countries to convene in Russia for ‘Digitalisation of Industrial Russia’ Conference

Nizhny Novgorod is set to host the anniversary edition of the "Digitalisation of Industrial Russia"…

10 hours ago

Musk’s Starlink will be given 3rd satcom services licence after Airtel and Jio: Scindia

Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said Elon Musk's Starlink will be the third…

12 hours ago

Gilgit-Baltistan turmoil deepens amid Land Law backlash

Gilgit-Baltistan is witnessing a deepening political and human rights crisis that observers warn may mirror…

13 hours ago