[President also asks US intelligence community to
explore the unlikely possibility that virus origins trace to Chinese lab]
By Joan E Greve in
Washington and agencies
The president said he received a
report earlier this month with the “most up-to-date analysis of the origins of
Covid-19”, but had asked intelligence agencies to “redouble” their efforts to
identify a “definitive conclusion” on how the virus was first transmitted in
humans.
“I have now asked the intelligence
community to redouble their efforts to collect and analyze information that
could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion, and to report back to me in
90 days. As part of that report, I have asked for areas of further inquiry that
may be required, including specific questions for China,” Biden said in a
statement on Wednesday.
The novel coronavirus was first
detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 and has since spread around
the world, killing almost 3.5 million people and infecting almost 168 million,
according to Johns Hopkins.
Much remains unknown about its
origins and China has been sensitive about any suggestion it could have done
more in the early stages of the pandemic to stop it.
Biden’s request included asking the
US intelligence community to explore the unlikely possibility that the origins
of the virus trace to Chinese lab. After months of minimizing the possibility
as a fringe theory, the Biden administration is responding both to domestic and
geopolitical concerns about putting pressure on China to be transparent about
the outbreak.
Republicans, including former
president Donald Trump, have promoted the theory that the virus emerged from a
laboratory accident, rather than naturally through human contact with an
infected animal.
Biden’s request comes days after
the Wall Street Journal broke the news of a previously undisclosed US
intelligence report about three Wuhan researchers being hospitalized with
coronavirus-like symptoms in November 2019. The report intensified public
speculation that the virus began spreading as a result of a laboratory
accident.
In his statement, Biden said the
majority of the US intelligence community had “coalesced” around those two
likely scenarios but “do not believe there is sufficient information to assess
one to be more likely than the other”. He revealed that two of the 18
intelligence agencies lean toward the animal link and “one leans more toward”
the lab theory, adding, “each with low or moderate confidence”.
Biden directed US national
laboratories to assist with the investigation and called on China to cooperate
with international inquiries into the origins of the pandemic. Biden said he
has also asked the intelligence community to keep Congress apprised of its work
on the matter.
“The United States will also keep
working with like-minded partners around the world to press China to
participate in a full, transparent, evidence-based international investigation
and to provide access to all relevant data and evidence,” he said.
Earlier this year China refused to
authorize a fact-finding mission to the country by the World Health
Organization (WHO) to study the origins of Covid-19. The move came
amid Beijing’s attempts to reshape
the narrative of where the disease originated.
Asked if the US intelligence
community has ruled out the possibility of a deliberate release of coronavirus,
deputy White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre replied: “We haven’t
ruled out anything yet.”
Speaking on Wednesday, she
repeatedly emphasized that the administration will have more information to
offer on the investigation into the origins of coronavirus once the review is
completed.
Jean-Pierre repeatedly criticized
China for not being transparent with its information on the origins of the
virus, echoing comments from other senior administration officials and
international leaders.
White House press secretary, Jen
Psaki, said Tuesday that the White House supports a new WHO investigation in
China, but added it “would require China finally stepping up and allowing
access needed to determine the origins.”
Biden, for his part, held out the
possibility that a firm conclusion may never be known, given the Chinese
government’s refusal to fully cooperate with international investigations.
“The failure to get our inspectors
on the ground in those early months will always hamper any investigation into
the origin of Covid-19,” he added in his statement Wednesday.
On Wednesday evening, the US Senate
passed a bill that seeks to declassify federal information relating to the
origins of Covid-19.
Elsewhere, Facebook announced
it was
lifting a ban on posts claiming that Covid-19 was “man-made”, saying
in a statement to Axios that the decision was made “in light of ongoing
investigations into the origin of Covid-19 and in consultation with public
health experts”.
Associated Press contributed to
this report
