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FBI director says China lab leak likely caused COVID pandemic

01 March 2023 08:58 (UTC +04:00)

FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday the agency has assessed that a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, likely caused the COVID-19 pandemic, APA reports citing Reuters.

"The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan," Wray said.

His comments follow a Wall Street Journal report on Sunday that the U.S. Energy Department has assessed with low confidence the pandemic resulted from an unintended lab leak in China.

Wray said he couldn't share many details of the agency’s assessment because they were classified.

He accused the Chinese government of "doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate" efforts by the United States and others to learn more about the pandemic's origins.