The Friday afternoon news dump by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), included an unclassified summary of their report on the origins of covid-19. It concluded that the deadly virus wasn't created to be a biological weapon, but did not exclude the possibility that it was spread due to a research-related incident.
Advertisement
The summary of the report states that the IC [intelligence community] is still divided over the most likely source of COVID-19 after examining all intelligence reports and other information. All agencies assess that two hypotheses are plausible: natural exposure to an infected animal and a laboratory-associated incident.
This summary won't be enough to dispel the many conspiracy theories about the origins and spread of covid-19. The IC claims that the first person infected by the virus was diagnosed with the disease in November 2019. According to the summary, there is no consensus about covid-19's source. This is because the Peoples Republic of China did not provide enough information, which President Joe Biden described as reckless.
The intelligence community's summary shows that it has low confidence that the virus was transmitted to humans from an animal that had been infected with SARS-CoV-2.
However, intelligence agencies are cautiously confident that covid-19 was first discovered in a research-related incident, which could have involved animal handling or sampling by Wuhan Institute of Virology.
According to the summary, the four intelligence agencies that were part of the assessment (including the National Intelligence Council) do not believe that China's government knew about the virus before it spread.
The investigation into whether the virus was genetically altered has resulted in a split of the agencies involved. The summary states that most agencies think it unlikely that SARS-CoV-2 has been genetically modified. However, two agencies feel there is not enough evidence to make an accurate assessment.
Advertisement
According to the DNI, intelligence agencies will require China to provide additional information about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic to be able to draw a confident conclusion. Summary: The summary states that the IC and the global scientific community lack clinical samples or a comprehensive understanding of epidemiological data from early COVID -19 patients.
Biden, in a statement that coincided with the DNIs report, lamented China's restriction of information access and warned that pandemics don't respect international borders.
Advertisement
Biden stated that critical information regarding the origins of the pandemic is available in the Peoples Republic of China. However, Chinese officials have tried to block international investigators and members of global public health communities from having access to it since the beginning. Despite the increasing toll from this pandemic, the PRC continues its refusal to provide transparency and withhold any information.
Scientists have not reached consensus on the most likely origins of covid-19. Both the natural human-to animal transmission theory and the laboratory-accident theory have circumstantial support. The World Health Organization reported in March 2021 that it was probable that covid-19 was transmitted from animal to animal zoologically. However, it considered the possibility that the virus had been introduced into the laboratory by an accident extremely unlikely.
Advertisement
The ongoing covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect. This is in addition to the politicization and lack of medical protections for the virus, the racist and xenophobic comments made against China and Asian Americans by those who support the lab-leak hypothesis, and the conspicuous absence of information from China's government. Biden has pledged that the U.S. government would continue to investigate the causes of the historic outbreak.
Biden stated that the United States will continue to work with other like-minded partners worldwide to push the PRC to share all information and cooperate with the World Health Organizations Phase II evidence based, expert-led investigation into the origins COVID-19. This includes providing access to all data and evidence. We will continue to push the PRC to comply with scientific norms and standards. This includes sharing data from the very beginning of the pandemic and protocols related to biosafety and information from animal population. This global tragedy must be fully and transparently accounted for. It is unacceptable to accept anything less.
Advertisement
The virus continues to spread regardless of where it originated, especially among those who are not vaccinated. According to the New York Times tracker data, this week saw more than 100,000 covid-19-related hospitalizations in the United States. The U.S. now has an average daily death rate of over 1,200 from covid-19. This is the highest level since March.
