The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in a recently released assessment claimed that the COVID-19 pandemic most likely originated from a lab.
According to CBS News, an assessment released on Saturday, January 25, 2025, CIA revealed that it believes that the virus responsible for the pandemic originates from a laboratory, but it has “low confidence” in its own conclusion.
A spokesperson for the agency said in a statement, “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. CIA continues to assess that both research-related and natural origin scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic remain plausible.”
Adding that they “"will continue to evaluate any available credible new intelligence reporting or open-source information that could change the CIA's assessment."
Meanwhile, China’s embassy in Washington, DC, rejected the CIA assessment, which it said “concocts misleading conclusions, throws dirty water on China, and engages in framing.”
Furthermore, the new assessment report is not the result of any new research but was a summary of the already existing data that was released at the request of the Biden administration and former CIA director William Burns.
The report was released by President Trump's pick and new director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, who was sworn in Thursday, January 23, 2025.
