The State Department cited the results of the investigation – US officials have accused China of not being transparent with the possible release of the virus from 2019.
A report on the origin of the new coronavirus conducted by a US state laboratory concluded that the hypothesis that the virus may have leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China is reasonable and worth further investigation, the American newspaper Wall reported in an article Monday. , citing persons aware of the confidential document.
The report was compiled in May 2020 by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. The State Department cited the findings in a report on the origins of the pandemic published in the last months of Donald Trump’s presidency, the WSJ reported.
The estimate of Lawrence Livermore scientists was based on the genetic analysis of the new coronavirus, according to the newspaper. The American laboratory refused to comment on the WSJ article.
US President Joe Biden announced in May that he had asked his advisers to find answers to the question of the origin of SARS-CoV-2.
The U.S. intelligence service is considering two possible scenarios: that the virus came from a laboratory accident or from a person coming into contact with an infected animal, but they have not come to a conclusion, Biden said.
A top US intelligence report released while Donald Trump was still president said three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology fell ill in November 2019 and needed to be hospitalized, US government sources said.
A State Department document released as Trump’s term draws to a close states that “the US government has reason to believe that several WIV investigators fell ill in the fall of 2019 before the first outbreak of the epidemic with covid-19 as well as seasonal flu “.
U.S. officials have accused China of not being transparent about the origin of the new coronavirus, a charge Beijing denies.
She added that Washington was working with the WHO and other member states to support a pandemic inquiry into the “non-intervention” and “non-politicization” of the pandemic.
The United States, Norway, Canada, Britain and other countries expressed concern in March over the WHO report on the origin of covid-19 and called for further research and access to all early stages. of the epidemic.
