Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

People visit an exhibition about Chinaí fight against the COVID-19 at a convention center that was previously a makeshift hospital for coronavirus patients in Wuhan on Jan. 15, 2021. Nicolas Asfouri, AFP/File

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/173797320665020210115-china-covid-museum-afp.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="People visit an exhibition about Chinaí fight against the COVID-19 at a convention center that was previously a makeshift hospital for coronavirus patients in Wuhan on Jan. 15, 2021. Nicolas Asfouri, AFP/File"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">People visit an exhibition about Chinaí fight against the COVID-19 at a convention center that was previously a makeshift hospital for coronavirus patients in Wuhan on Jan. 15, 2021. Nicolas Asfouri, AFP/File</span></span></span></div><p style="text-align:left">BEIJING, China — China said Monday it was &quot;extremely unlikely&quot; Covid-19 came from a laboratory, after the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said it believed the virus had more likely come from a lab rather than natural transmission.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/overseas/03/03/23/the-covid-lab-leak-theory-who-says-what">The COVID lab leak theory: Who says what?</a></div><p>&quot;The conclusion that a laboratory leak is extremely unlikely was reached by the China-WHO joint expert team based on field visits to relevant laboratories in Wuhan,&quot; foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/05/07/20/the-wuhan-lab-at-the-heart-of-the-us-china-virus-spat">The Wuhan lab at the heart of the US-China virus spat</a></div><p>&quot;This has been widely recognized by the international community and the scientific community,&quot; she added.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/overseas/07/22/21/china-rejects-second-who-probe-covid19-origin">China rejects WHO plan for study of COVID-19 origin</a></div><p>The CIA said Saturday the virus was &quot;more likely&quot; leaked from a Chinese lab than transmitted by animals.</p><p>The new assessment came after John Ratcliffe was confirmed last week as the CIA director under the second White House administration of Donald Trump.</p><p>&quot;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,&quot; a CIA spokesperson said in a statement Saturday.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/overseas/06/24/23/no-evidence-covid-created-in-chinese-lab-us-intelligence">No evidence Covid created in Chinese lab: US intelligence</a></div><p>The agency had not previously made any determination on whether Covid had been unleashed by a laboratory mishap or spilled over from animals.</p><p>Beijing on Monday urged the United States to &quot;stop politicizing and instrumentalizing the issue of origin-tracing.&quot;</p><p>Mao said Washington should &quot;stop smearing and shifting the blame to other countries (and) should respond to the legitimate concerns of the international community as soon as possible.&quot;</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Djw2DpktoW4?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>The CIA said Saturday the virus was "more likely" leaked from a Chinese lab than transmitted by animals.</p>

The CIA said Saturday the virus was "more likely" leaked from a Chinese lab than transmitted by animals.

China says 'extremely unlikely' Covid pandemic came from lab leak

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China says 'extremely unlikely' Covid pandemic came from lab leak

Agence France-Presse

Published January 27, 2025 06:26 PM PHT

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