US energy department now believes Covid may have been result of a lab leak, report claims

US government agencies remain divided on the controversial ‘lab leak’ theory, with two in favour and five against

The US Energy Department now believes that an accidental laboratory leak is the “most likely” origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The explosive claim was reportedly made in a recent intelligence briefing given to the White House and top members of Congress, with the caveat that it was made with “low confidence”.

Different US federal agencies remain divided on the controversial “lab leak” theory, which is backed by the Energy Department and the FBI but opposed by five other government bodies.

Still, the Energy Department’s judgement carries weight because it employs many expert scientists and conducts high-end research into viruses and diseases.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan refused to confirm or deny the story on Sunday, saying that US officials have not yet agreed on any “definitive answer”.

The report is likely to bolster politicians, researchers, and commentators who argue that Covid-19, which has killed more than 6.9 million people across the world including 1.1 million in the US, may have escaped from a Chinese research laboratory.

Although the Journal’s report contains no indication that the Energy Department mentioned China specifically, most lab leak proponents focus on the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Hubei province, where Covid-19 first began speading among humans.

Such theories have sparked bitter scientific and political argument across the world since the first months of the pandemic, from measured calls for further investigation through conspiratorial claims about Communist bio-weapons to accusations of anti-Chinese racism.

China insists that the lab leak theory is “a lie concocted by anti-China forces for political purposes”, while the World Health Organization (WHO), which originally called it “extremely unlikely”, has since said further investigation is required.

The US Energy Department’s shift of stance reportely came in an update to a 2021 briefing by the US National Intelligence Council (NIC), summarising what US spy agencies have concluded about the origins of Covid-19.

All agencies reportedly remain confident that the virus was not developed as a biological weapon and that Chinese officials did not have any “foreknowledge” of it before its outbreak in 2019.

Most agencies also assessed with low confidence that the virus was not genetically engineered, and four US agencies plus the NIC concluded with low confidence that it emerged from natural transmission between animals and humans.

By contrast, the FBI believes with “moderate confidence” that a lab leak is the most likely answer, while two other agencies – said to include the CIA –remain on the fence. All agencies considered the lab leak theory to be “plausible”.

”Right now there is not a definitive answer to emerge from the intelligence community on this question,” Mr Sullivan told CNN on Sunday.

”Some elements of the intelligence community have reached conclusions on one side, some on the other, and a number have said they just don’t have enough information to be sure.”

He said that President Joe Biden has “directed every element of our intelligence community to put effort and resources on getting to the bottom of this question,” adding that Mr Biden had specifically asked the Energy Department’s national laboratory network to look into it,

A spokesperson for the Energy Department said that it “continues to support the thorough, careful, and objective work of our intelligence professionals in investigating the origins of Covid-19, as the President directed”.

Dan Sullivan, a Republican senator for Alaska, called for “extensive hearings” in Congress over the possibility of a Chinese lab leak.

“This is a country that has no problem coming out and lying to the world,” he said, referring to China. “We just saw that with this Chinese spy balloon. I think we need to make sure every contry knows that, and look at what the consequences could be.”