The FBI’s Director, Christopher Wray, stated on Tuesday that the COVID-19 outbreak was most likely generated by a leak from a facility in Wuhan, China.
“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Wray told Fox News.
His remarks come after the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the US Energy Department believes the outbreak was caused by an unintentional lab leak in China.
According to the Journal, four other agencies, as well as a national intelligence body, believe the pandemic was caused by natural transmission, while two are undecided.
According to White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, the US government has not reached a definite conclusion and consensus on the origins of the pandemic.
When asked to comment on the Wall Street Journal allegation, which was confirmed by other US media, China’s foreign ministry referred to a WHO-China research that suggested a natural origin for the pandemic rather than a lab breach.
Wray stated that many details of the agency’s assessment were secret and that he couldn’t reveal them.
He accused the Chinese government of “doing its best to impede and distort” US and international efforts to understand more about the pandemics.
