Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 12:26pm on 26 Jan 2025,Sunday International
The CIA now believes the COVID-19 pandemic is "more likely" to have originated from a lab leak in Wuhan, China, rather than natural transmission. However, the agency admitted having "low confidence" in its conclusion, based on fresh analysis of existing intelligence. The declassified report, ordered by CIA director John Ratcliffe, states both lab-related and natural origin scenarios remain plausible. China's government has dismissed the claims as baseless and accused Washington of politicizing the pandemic. The World Health Organization's 2021 report suggested animal transmission as the likely origin but did not rule out a lab-related incident. Investigations are ongoing.
