Pres. Biden has been briefed on a classified report from his intelligence community probing the origins of COVID-19, White House officials tell ABC News.
A team assembled by the World Health Organization recently visited Wuhan to research where COVID-19 came from, but it could be years before there are clear answers about how the outbreak started.President Joe Biden has been briefed on a classified report from his intelligence community probing the origins of COVID-19, White House officials told ABC News.
But with one deadline met, international scientists tasked with studying the virus' origins warned Wednesday that another crucial window is"closing fast": the shrinking opportunity for any thorough scientific study to be completed.
Biden's August deadline marks zero hour for the next phase of a larger international quest: to trace back the virus in order to hold the responsible parties to account, and to understand its inception in order to prevent the next one. But there have been no definitive conclusions as to where COVID-19 came from. The joint WHO-led team presented a range of options in their March report, calling a lab leak"extremely unlikely," but offering pathways for further investigation. Team members have voiced frustration with the lack of cooperation from the Chinese government -- echoed inSince then, the WHO has become increasingly receptive to the possibility that the virus resulted from a lab leak.
A group of bipartisan lawmakers urged Biden not to let this month's deadline hamstring a thorough investigation.
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