The origins of the Covid-19 pandemic are again subject to controversy. On Sunday, February 26, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times revealed a change in analysis within the US Department of Energy, which would now retain – “with a low level of confidence” – the trail of a leak of laboratory in China, based on a new report from an intelligence agency. A revelation that has vigorously reacted Beijing, which disputes the accusations and considers itself “dirty”.
“We should stop agitating this theory of a laboratory leak, stop smearing China and stop politicizing the search for the origins of the virus,” said the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. , Mao Ning, during a regular press briefing. “Experts from China and the WHO, based on field visits to laboratories in Wuhan and in-depth exchanges with researchers, have established the authoritative conclusion that the option of a leak from a lab is highly unlikely,” Mao Ning insisted.
Three years after the start of the pandemic, the origin of the virus which has killed nearly 7 million people worldwide and shaken the march of the globe remains however still undetermined. In February 2021, experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Chinese scientists had deemed “highly improbable” the trail of an accident at the Chinese virology institute in Wuhan and favored the hypothesis of a natural origin of the virus and transmission to humans by an “intermediate” animal.
Since then, the hypothesis of laboratory manipulation, coupled with an accidental leak, has however resurfaced, especially in the United States, where this track is, according to the Wall Street Journal, notably retained by the FBI. A sign that the debate is still open in the United States, four American intelligence agencies believe that the Covid is of natural origin and two remain undecided, according to the Wall Street Journal review.
“At this time, no definitive answer from the intelligence community has emerged on the matter,” White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on CNN on Sunday.
In mid-February, WHO boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus personally pledged to do everything possible to obtain “an answer” on the origins of Covid-19, strongly denying reports that the organization had given up on finalizing his investigation of the subject.
