US Intel. ‘Coronavirus Leaked From Wuhan Lab’ (Worthy News Analysis)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – After years of expressed skepticism, officials linked to the Biden administration have concluded that an accidental laboratory leak in China most likely caused the coronavirus pandemic.
A new intelligence report prompted the U.S. Energy Department to say that the pandemic linked to the death of millions of people originated from the lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Several sources confirmed that the Wuhan Institute of Virology did extensive research into manipulating the coronavirus, despite concerns about security measures.
The Department’s conclusion was a turnaround from its earlier position that it was “undecided” on how the virus causing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could spread.
Previous U.S. President Donald J. Trump was often ridiculed in media and by U.S. President Joe Biden supporters for calling the coronavirus the “China Virus” after initially dismissing the seriousness of COVID-19.
As early as April 2020, then-President Trump said “a lot of people are looking” into the possibility of a lab leak and added the theory “seems to make sense.”
FAUCI CLAIMS
Dr. Anthony Fauci, then the government’s leading infectious disease expert, refuted Trump’s claim.
Fauci, who had ties to the Wuhan laboratory, cited a study that found the virus’ mutations are “consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.”
However, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), came under pressure over reports that his institute funded research in Wuhan on making the coronavirus more dangerous to humans.
Fauci, whose NIAID is part of the National Institute of Health (NIH), told Congress in May 2021: The NIH “has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
Yet documents obtained by investigative journalists seemed to undermine Fauci’s denials to Congress.
Richard Ebright, board of governors professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University and laboratory director at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology, said the documents show “unequivocally” that NIH grants were used to fund controversial gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Insitute of Virology in China.
UNTRUTHFUL STATEMENT
“The documents make it clear that assertions by the NIH director, Francis Collins, and the NIAID director, Anthony Fauci, that the NIH did not support gain-of-function research or potential pandemic pathogen enhancement in Wuhan are untruthful,” Ebright said.
Republicans quickly concluded that the denials by the nation’s infectious disease expert Fauci were motivated more by his face-saving efforts than science. Yet some American officials still claim that U.S. spy agencies remain divided over the virus’s origins.
Many of the Department’s insights come from its network of national laboratories, say sources with knowledge about its operations. Some of the labs providing the information conduct biological research.
Therefore the information gathering by the Energy Department differs from more traditional forms of intelligence, like spy networks or communications intercepts.
However, the latest intelligence by the Energy Department at least suggests a change in thinking at the top levels of government about a virus impacting the world.
The COVID-19 virus, first discovered in Wuhan in December 2019, spread worldwide, killing over 6.8 million people worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University, and having life-altering effects on many others.
Research showed that most who passed away were older adults with underlying health issues.
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