uS President Joe Biden has signed legislation releasing intelligence information on the origin of the coronavirus. He shares Congress’ goal of releasing as much information as possible about the origin of the virus, Biden said Monday. When published, however, no information would be disclosed that could endanger national security.
“We need to get to the bottom of the origins of Covid-19 to ensure we can better prevent future pandemics,” Biden said. “My government will continue to review all classified information related to the origins of Covid-19, including possible links to the Institute of Virology in Wuhan.”
Congress had passed a corresponding law about a week and a half ago. There is reason to believe that the corona pandemic originated in a laboratory in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the text said. Therefore, the US intelligence coordinator should release “as much information as possible” about the origin of the virus and make it available to the public. However, it initially remained unclear what information the government would release and when.
US authorities disagree
According to the latest information from the White House, there is still no unanimous opinion in the US government about the origin of the virus. Some US agencies, including the FBI, remain of the opinion that the virus was likely transmitted naturally, while others remain undecided or assume a laboratory glitch. The question is also controversial in science.
The corona virus first appeared in the Chinese metropolis in 2019. While many experts see animal-to-human transmission at an animal market in Wuhan as the origin of the pandemic, there is also the theory of a laboratory accident in the city.
In February, several US media reported that the US Department of Energy, which is responsible for overseeing laboratories, now assumes that the corona virus escaped from a Chinese laboratory. The US Federal Police FBI is of the same opinion.
The topic is also highly charged politically. China regularly and outragedly rejects information about a possible laboratory accident. The virus has killed an estimated seven million people worldwide. The pandemic and the measures taken to contain it have had serious economic and social consequences.
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