
Rejecting its previous version of the origin of the pandemic, the US Department of Energy has used newly classified evidence to conclude that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus most likely originated in a research laboratory Chinese.
The new conclusion, based on a classified report that the White House and members of Congress have been briefed on and the contents of which officials have not yet released, was published in an updated version of a 2021 edition of US Directorate of National Intelligence, according to the Wall Street Journal.
So, after the FBI, the US Department of Energy has concluded that the virus emerged from a Wuhan laboratory, although four other US agencies still support the theory that the virus was transmitted through an animal from a Chinese live market , while the CIA still has no final decision on the matter.
The change of attitude by the US Department of Energy is important as the Department has a great deal of expertise and knowledge and oversees various US laboratories, some of which conduct biological research, reports abcnews.al.
US officials told the WSJ that while the FBI and Department of Energy agreed, they reached these conclusions for different reasons. And of course the FBI has an expertise in disease and virology as it employs microbiologists and immunologists as part of its investigations into protecting the US from bioterrorism and biological weapons.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN on Sunday that "there is still no definitive answer" about the source of the coronavirus.
"Here's what I can tell you. President Biden has consistently urged every element of our intelligence community to devote all efforts and resources to investigating this matter," he said.
"If we get more information, we will share it with Congress and we will share it with the American people as well, but at this time there is no definitive answer from the intelligence community regarding this matter."
The scenario of the coronavirus leaking from a laboratory in Wuhan was initially dismissed as a conspiracy and xenophobic theory, but a growing number of scientists believe the virus may have leaked during an incident at the Chinese Metropolitan Institute of Virology (WIV). The research facility is less than 15 km from the livestock market where the first cases of Covid-19 in humans were recorded, reports abcnews.al.
Some experts also claim that the "Spike" protein that the coronavirus uses to infect humans shows signs that it could have been created in a lab. But others have considered these scenarios unlikely and say there is some indirect evidence that the coronavirus was passed from animals to humans.
Evidence of the natural or man-made origin of the coronavirus has not been made public.