President Biden on Wednesday ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to intensify their effort to determine the origins of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, including whether the pandemic began with a lab accident in China. AdvertisementBut scientists have said the possibility cannot be ruled out, especially because China has refused to allow a more thorough international investigation into activities at the Wuhan lab. But Chinese officials repeatedly have rejected calls to examine whether the coronavirus came from the Wuhan lab, and they’ve described the WHO report as sufficient. Daszak had worked closely with Wuhan virologists on their coronavirus studies and therefore has a major conflict of interest, critics said. At the end of the WHO-led mission, the team said it was “extremely unlikely” that the virus escaped from the Wuhan lab, ranking it below the possibility that the virus was transmitted via frozen food.

Source: Los Angeles Times May 26, 2021 18:29 UTC