Push Admin

FBI director says COVID 'most likely' caused by Wuhan lab accident

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img 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 January 15, 2021. Nicolas Asfouri, AFP" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/tvpatrol/01/15/20210115-china-covid-museum-afp.jpg"/><figcaption>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 January 15, 2021. <em>Nicolas Asfouri, AFP</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>WASHINGTON — FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday his agency believes the COVID-19 pandemic was &quot;most likely&quot; caused by an incident in a laboratory in Wuhan, China.</p><p>&quot;The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,&quot; Wray said in an interview with Fox News.</p><p>The comments come after a report earlier this week said the US Department of Energy had determined that a leak from a Chinese lab was the most likely cause of the COVID-19 outbreak.</p><p>However, other agencies within the American intelligence community believe the virus emerged naturally in the world.</p><p>In the interview, Wray also accused the Chinese government of trying to stall US efforts to investigate the causes of the pandemic.</p><p>&quot;The Chinese government... has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here, the work that we&#x27;re doing, the work that our US government and close foreign partners are doing,&quot; Wray said. &quot;And that&#x27;s unfortunate for everybody.&quot;</p><p>Chinese officials have angrily denied the claim, calling it a smear campaign against Beijing.</p><p>The scientific community sees it as crucial to determine the origins of the pandemic in order to better fight or even prevent the next one. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/01/09/23/90-of-people-in-china-province-infected-with-covid-official">90% of people in China province infected with Covid: official</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/11/23/who-sees-end-of-covid-19-emergency-this-year">WHO sees end of COVID-19 emergency this year</a></li></ul><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1636512" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><div><br/> </div>

FBI Director Christopher Wray said his agency believes the COVID-19 pandemic was 'most likely' caused by an incident in a laboratory in Wuhan, China.