Advertising
Supported by
The White House threw its weight over the lab leak theory, a concept that has divided intelligence agencies.
By Benjamin Mueller
The Trump administration has replaced the Government’s main portal to obtain Covid data with an online page arguing that the Coronavirus leaked from a laboratory, throwing its weight a theory of the origins of the pandemic that until now is not backed through direct evidence and has divided the intelligence agencies.
Covid. gov and covidTests. gov, federal internet sites that provided data on Covid and allow others to order tests, now redirect to the lab leak webpage. Bearing a symbol of President Trump flanked through the words “Lab Leak,” the new page is illustrated with a satellite symbol of Wuhan, China, the city where Covid began spreading, and says it describes “the true symbol of the satellite symbol, the true symbol of origin, the true origin of origin. “COVID-19. “
The online page notes that the city is home to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a coronavirus lab that had been preoccupied with study projects that some scientists were working on. He also alluded to considerations that the laboratory had carried out its paintings in unsafe conditions. Central intelligence agency officials cited those considerations when the company recently shifted its stance to favor the lab leak hypothesis.
But the page doesn’t cover other main points about the virus’s early spread, such as where patients lived and worked and genetic clues to an illegal wildlife market in Wuhan, where many cases have been detected. Many scientists say the data indicates that the virus has spread from animals to other people in the market.
Since Trump returned to office, White House officials have begun describing the lab leak theory as a “confirmable truth. “The C. I. A. has moved its evaluation with “low confidence”; The agency’s resolution was not based on new information, but a closer look at the evidence about protective situations in Wuhan’s labs.
The uncertainty of the White House posture mask in the ranks of government intelligence agencies about the origins of the pandemic. Intelligence officials and scientists have pointed out that, since 2020, China has withheld data that may have been gracious on the issue.
We are having to recover the content of the article.
Allow JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience as we review access. If you’re in reader mode, drop off and attach to your Times account, or subscribe to all the time.
Thank you for your patience as we determine access.
Already a subscriber? Sign in.
Do you want all the time? Subscribe.
Advertising