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Tengrinews.kz - The new C.I.A director, John Ratcliffe, has ordered the declassification of an updated analytical document on the origins of the coronavirus, according to The New York Times.
The C.I.A stated its belief that COVID-19 likely leaked from a Chinese laboratory after years of dismissing this theory under the Biden administration.
A C.I.A spokesperson announced on Saturday that they now favor the lab leak theory.
Officials clarified that no new evidence has emerged to change their position — their assessment is based on the same evidence they have been considering for months.
"The C.I.A, with low confidence, assesses that the research-related origin of the COVID-19 pandemic is more likely than a natural origin, based on the available body of reports. The C.I.A continues to evaluate both research-related and natural origin scenarios for the pandemic as plausible," the agency's statement read on Saturday.
Announcing its change in position, the C.I.A joined the FBI and the Department of Energy in attributing the incident to a virus leak from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
A World Health Organization (WHO) commission thoroughly investigated the Wuhan Institute of Virology due to its research on bat coronaviruses and alleged safety breaches at the start of the pandemic.
Following the investigation, the commission concluded that all evidence pointed to the Wuhan seafood market, where the virus may have been transmitted from certain wild animals and then spread further.
Previously, after a two-year investigation, U.S. congressmen concluded that the coronavirus was most likely of laboratory origin and spread as a result of a leak.
