Covid: FBI Director Christopher Wray believes leak from Chinese laboratory is “most likely”

• FBI’s top-secret assessment of how the pandemic virus spread.
• China has denied the existence of a lab leak in Wuhan, calling the claim slanderous.
• Several US government agencies have reached conclusions that differ from the FBI’s.

FBI Director Christopher Wray has claimed that the bureau believes Covid-19 “most likely” originated in a “Chinese government-controlled lab”.

“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident,” he told Fox News.

It’s the first public confirmation of the FBI’s top-secret assessment of how the pandemic virus spread.

China has denied the existence of a lab leak in Wuhan, calling the claim slanderous.

Mr. Wray’s remarks came a day after the US ambassador to China urged the country to “be more honest” about the origins of Covid.

Mr Wray stated in his interview on Tuesday that China “has been doing its best to impede and distort” efforts to pinpoint the origins of the worldwide pandemic.

“And that’s unfortunate for everybody,” he said.

According to some investigations, the virus spread from animals to humans in Wuhan, China, probably through the city’s seafood and wildlife market.

Conclusions that differ

The market is a 40-minute drive from a world-leading virus laboratory, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which conducts research into coronaviruses.

Several US government agencies have reached conclusions that differ from the FBI’s, with varied degrees of certainty in their findings.

The Chinese government has yet to reply to Mr. Wray’s remarks. On Monday, however, it denied media claims that the US Energy Department had “low confidence” that Covid had leaked from a lab. The government previously stated that it was unsure how the infection originated.

Beijing further referenced a 2021 World Health Organization (WHO) assessment that declared the lab leak allegation “very implausible”.

“Certain parties should stop rehashing the ‘lab leak’ narrative, stop smearing China, and stop politicizing origins-tracing,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.

The WHO investigation was deeply criticized and its director-general has since called for a new inquiry, saying: “All hypotheses remain open and require further study.”

Mr. Wray’s remarks came a day after the US ambassador to China urged the country to “be more honest” about the origins of Covid.

Mr. Wray stated in his interview on Tuesday that China “has been doing its best to impede and distort” efforts to pinpoint the origins of the worldwide pandemic.

“And that’s unfortunate for everybody,” he said.

No legitimacy

Following his remarks, Mao Ning, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, stated, “The conclusions they have reached have no legitimacy to speak of.”

According to some investigations, the virus spread from animals to humans in Wuhan, China, probably through the city’s seafood and wildlife market.

The market is a 40-minute drive from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a world-class virus laboratory that conducts coronavirus research.

According to White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, US President Joe Biden supports “a whole-of-government effort” to figure out how Covid got started.

“We’re simply not there [at agreement] yet,” he explained. “If we have something ready to brief the American people and Congress on, we will do so.”

Tensions in bilateral relations between the United States and China have risen in the aftermath of the recent spy balloon scandal.

This week, a bipartisan panel of US senators launched a series of hearings on the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s “existential” danger.

The first session of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party focused on issues such as human rights and the US economy’s dependence on Chinese manufacturing.

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