China says it’s “extremely unlikely” COVID pandemic came from lab leak, as CIA now indicates
China said on Monday it was “extremely unlikely” Coronavirus disease from the lab, after The CIA said it was The virus is more likely to have come from a laboratory than spread naturally.
“Based on on-site visits to relevant laboratories in Wuhan, it is extremely unlikely that the Chinese joint expert team can reach a conclusion,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said.
“This has been widely recognized by the international community and scientific community,” she added.
The CIA said on Saturday it was “more likely” that the virus escaped from a Chinese laboratory rather than being transmitted from animals.
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The new assessment comes as John Ratcliffe was confirmed last week as CIA director for Trump’s second administration.
“The origins of CIA research into the Covid-19 pandemic are more likely to be assessed than natural sources based on available reports,” a CIA spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday. ‘s and natural origin scenarios are still plausible.”
The agency has not previously determined whether it was released by a laboratory accident or leaked from animals.
Beijing on Monday urged the United States to “stop politicizing and instrumentalizing the issue of source tracing.”
Mao Zedong said Washington should “stop smearing and transferring responsibilities to other countries, and should respond to the legitimate concerns of the international community as soon as possible.”
