Biden-ordered review of intel on COVID fails to pinpoint origin, reports

The director of national intelligence has delivered to President Biden his requested classified report on the origins COVID-19 in China, but it does not conclude whether the virus was accidentally leaked from a lab or jumped from animals to humans.

Biden requests the 90-review from the U.S. intelligence community amid the ongoing debate about how the deadly virus emerged. 

He ordered the report in part to give the intelligence agencies an opportunity to examine a trove of data that had not been fully reviewed, according to The New York Times.

China had originally said when the virus was first detected in the United States in late 2019 that it started with a shopper at an exotic food market in the city of Wuhan. 

The explanation resulted in widespread speculation the virus could have leaked from a state-run virology research lab in the same city.

The absence of a conclusion about the virus origins underscores the scientific challenge of pinpointing the source. In addition, China’s ruling Communist Party has refused to continue to cooperate with international investigations into the virus origin, The Times also reports.

The World Health Organization report in March that found the lab leak theory unlikely in part prompted Biden’s review order. He received the report Tuesday, and the White House said some of the findings should be declassified in the coming days.