DEMOCREPUBLIX NEWS

COVID Likely Emerged From Lab Leak, Energy Dept Says

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Energy has concluded that COVID-19 likely originated from a laboratory leak in China. The department based its findings on "new intelligence" and becomes the second federal agency, alongside the FBI, to publicly support the lab leak theory. Last year, the FBI determined with "moderate confidence" that the pandemic began with a "laboratory accident."

Recently, House Republicans launched a probe into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, requesting information from the Biden administration on the lab leak theory and testimony from Dr. Anthony Fauci, who previously dismissed speculation that COVID leaked from a lab. Despite Democrats and the media labeling the theory as a conspiracy, Republicans have long suggested that the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. President Joe Biden became open to the theory after Donald Trump left office, as officials believed that the former president was attempting to shift the blame for his handling of the pandemic onto China.

According to the Journal, State Department officials had warned about the lack of safety measures at Chinese labs studying coronaviruses as early as 2018. This, along with internal Chinese documents, raised concerns about China's biosafety procedures, which have been cited as evidence for the lab-leak hypothesis. Wuhan is home to several laboratories, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products.

Initially, an outbreak at a seafood market in Wuhan was thought to be the source of the virus. However, some scientists and Chinese public-health officials now believe that it was an example of community spread, rather than where the first human infection occurred, according to the 2021 intelligence community report.