White House changes official version of COVID-19 origin
The White House changes its stance on the origin of the coronavirus pandemic (Photo:Getty Images)
The US has updated its stance on the COVID-19 pandemic, revising its previous official version regarding the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Washington is now leaning towards the scenario of a virus leak from a Chinese laboratory, according to the White House.
In the matter of the virus's origin, health officials and the media have repeatedly used the publication The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2 to discredit the laboratory leak theory in Wuhan, China. Allegedly, a narrative, supposedly inspired by Dr. Fauci, was promoted suggesting that COVID-19 emerged naturally.
Meanwhile, the White House asserts that the virus possesses a biological characteristic not found in nature.
"Data shows that all COVID-19 cases stem from a single introduction into humans. This runs contrary to previous pandemics where there were multiple spillover events", according to conclusions released on the US portal COVID.gov.
The White House also points out that Wuhan is home to China's leading SARS research laboratory, which has a history of conducting gain-of-function research (genetic modifications and body enhancement) under inadequate biosafety levels.
Additionally, the US side notes that Chinese researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) experienced COVID-like symptoms in the fall of 2019, several months before the disease began spreading worldwide.
"By nearly all measures of science, if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced. But it hasn’t," the resource states.
The White House revealed that the most likely source of COVID-19 is an incident linked to a laboratory, associated with gain-of-function research.
"Current government mechanisms for overseeing this dangerous gain-of-function research are incomplete, severely convoluted, and lack global applicability," the statement from Washington reads.
New questions on the origins of COVID-19
In January of this year, it was revealed that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had changed its stance on the origins of the COVID-19 outbreak. According to Western media reports, American intelligence now leans towards the theory that the coronavirus leaked from a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan.
At the same time, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the CIA's claim of a COVID-19 leak from the Wuhan laboratory, labeling the theory as highly unlikely.
In February, The Wall Street Journal reported that the US Department of Energy believes the pandemic's origins were the result of an accidental leak from a Chinese laboratory.
At the end of December last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) called on China to release data on COVID-19 to help determine the virus's origin. The organization believes this is both a moral and scientific obligation for China.
