China said on Monday that it was “highly unlikely” that Covid-19 came from a laboratory, after the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said it believed the virus was more likely to have come from a lab rather than natural transmission. has come as
“It has been concluded that a laboratory leak is highly unlikely by the China Joint Expert Team based on field visits to relevant laboratories in Wuhan,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning.
“This has been widely recognized by the international community and the scientific community,” he added.
The CIA said on Saturday that the virus was “more than likely” leaked from a Chinese lab transmitted by animals.
The new assessment comes after John Ratcliffe was confirmed last week as CIA director under Donald Trump’s second White House administration.
A CIA spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday, “The CIA has estimated with low confidence that the origin reporting related to the COVID-19 pandemic research is more likely than natural origin based on available agency reporting.” “
The agency has not previously made a determination on whether the virus was released from a laboratory accident or spread from animals.
Beijing urged the US on Monday to “politicise and cooperate with the actual tracking issue”.
Mao said Washington should “stop being stinky and shifting the blame to other countries (and) respond to the international community’s legitimate concerns as soon as possible”.
