China has rejected a U.S. intelligence assessment suggesting the coronavirus that turned into the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from a lab, rather than nature. The CIA, while emphasizing "low confidence" in its findings, noted that both lab and natural origins for the virus remain plausible.
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00:00China has dismissed a U.S. intelligence assessment suggesting the COVID-19 pandemic came from
00:07a lab.
00:08It is highly improbable that the lab leak was a result of a joint experimental team
00:14of the Chinese WHO visiting Wuhan's lab and communicating with the researchers in-depth
00:20to come to an authoritative scientific conclusion, which has been widely recognized by the international
00:25community and the scientific community.
00:26Beijing's response comes after the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency on Saturday said that
00:31the origin of the outbreak is more likely to be from a lab than from nature.
00:37This contradicts an earlier scientific consensus that the virus spread from animals, known
00:42as the natural origin theory.
00:44The agency also stressed that its assessment was what it called low confidence and that
00:49both scenarios, lab origin and natural origin, are possible.