BEIJING: On Monday, China stated that it was “extremely unlikely” that Covid-19 originated from a laboratory, following the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) assertion that the virus was more likely to have come from a lab rather than through natural transmission.
“The conclusion that a laboratory leak is extremely unlikely was reached by the China-WHO joint expert team after field visits to relevant laboratories in Wuhan,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.
“This conclusion is widely accepted by both the international and scientific communities,” she added.
On Saturday, the CIA claimed that the virus was “more likely” to have leaked from a Chinese laboratory rather than being transmitted from animals.
This new assessment followed the confirmation of John Ratcliffe as CIA director under Donald Trump’s second administration.
A CIA spokesperson stated on Saturday, “The CIA assesses with low confidence that a research-related origin of the Covid-19 pandemic is more likely than a natural origin, based on the available body of reporting.”
This was the CIA’s first statement regarding the possibility of the virus having been released due to a laboratory mishap or animal spillover.
In response, Beijing urged the United States to “stop politicizing and weaponizing the issue of origin-tracing.”
Mao further emphasized that Washington should “stop smearing and shifting blame onto other countries and address the legitimate concerns of the international community promptly.”
