Iran Press/ Asia: According to the Office of the US Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) report, analysts at an unnamed intelligence agency believe the "dangerous nature" of the Science being carried out at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), coupled with a lack of safety precautions, led to the coronavirus first jumping from animals to humans.
"Although the intelligence community has no indications that WIV research involved SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, these analysts note that it is plausible that researchers may have unwittingly exposed themselves to the virus during experiments or sampling activities, possibly resulting in asymptomatic or mild infection," the declassified US intelligence report has said.
However, other intelligence agencies involved in the report believe it's more likely the virus jumped directly from animals to humans, casting doubt on the "lab leak" theory.
"These analysts see the potential that a laboratory worker inadvertently was infected while collecting unknown animal specimens to be less likely than an infection occurring through numerous people who had natural contact with animals," the report said.
ODNI also dismissed suggestions that Covid-19 originated as a bioweapon, saying proponents of this theory "do not have direct access to the Wuhan Institute of Virology" and have been accused of spreading disinformation.
The agencies concluded that they might never be able to identify the origins of the virus.
China, once again, hit back at the claims, describing the report as a "complete political farce."
The report's release comes after world leaders, including World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, wrote in an editorial that ruling out the lab leak theory would be a mistake.
Published last week in the journal Science, the authors declared the "laboratory hypotheses must be examined carefully, with a focus on labs in the location where the first reports of human infections emerged in Wuhan."
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