House report alleges link between China bioweapons program, COVID-19 pandemic

A minority staff report from Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee has alleged a link between the origins of the COVID-19 virus, which wreaked a lethal havoc worldwide beginning in 2019, and the Chinese bioweapons program.

"[W]e conclude that there are indications that SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19] may have been tied to China's biological weapons research program and spilled over to the human population during a lab-related incident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The [Intelligence Community] failed to adequately address this information in its classified Updated Assessment. When we attempted to raise the issues with the IC, it failed to respond," the report's summary reads, according to Fox News.

The Republicans referenced an Oct. 2021 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that was skeptical of COVID-19's origins as a possible bioweapon. 

Their report excoriated the IC's prior dismissal of the lab leak theory and the virus's possible origins as a bioweapon. They did, however, state that there was scant evidence to suggest the release of COVID-19 was intentional, saying "[w]e have not seen any credible indication that the virus was intentionally, rather than accidentally, released."

The Wednesday House report follows a separate minority report in October from Republicans on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which asserted there was "substantial evidence" that the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where scientists were known to be experimenting with coronaviruses.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology has denied that COVID-19 leaked from its facility.