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Security forces guard the laboratory in Wuhan
Photo: Thomas Peter / REUTERS
In December 2019, Chinese authorities reported people infected with a new, rare lung disease for the first time.
For a few months, people all over the world became infected and died from the then new type of corona virus.
However, there is still a lack of clarity about the actual origin of Sars-CoV-2, including in the White House.
"There is currently no consensus in the US government as to how exactly Covid came about," National Security Council communications director John Kirby said in Washington on Monday.
He had been asked about a media report that the US Department of Energy had changed its assessment of the origin of the corona virus and was now assuming a possible laboratory breakdown.
"Intelligence and the rest of the government are still looking into this," Kirby said.
There is no final conclusion yet.
He said he could neither confirm nor deny the report.
Biden's National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, made a similar statement on Sunday.
What US President Joe Biden wants are facts, Kirby emphasized.
'He wants the whole government to get these facts together, and that's what we're doing.
We're just not ready yet."
Convinced with »low« certainty
The excitement followed new findings from the US Department of Energy.
The Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported on Sunday that it had joined the laboratory thesis as the origin of the pandemic – but only with a “low” degree of certainty.
The secret report was presented to the White House and members of Congress.
The Department of Energy thus agrees with the assessment of the Federal Police FBI.
However, some US authorities still believe that the virus was probably transmitted naturally.
Others are undecided.
In 2021, after several months of scrutiny, there was no agreement among the US intelligence services.
China itself immediately rejected the media reports.
Beijing's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Monday that the search for the origin of the virus is a scientific matter and should "not be politicized".
During their investigations in 2021 in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus was first discovered, the research mission of the World Health Organization (WHO) with Chinese scientists determined that a laboratory breakdown was “highly unlikely”.
The spokeswoman said it should stop exaggerating the laboratory theory and slandering China.
mrc/dpa