FBI Director Christopher Wray says COVID-19 most likely leaked from Wuhan lab

#FBI Director Wray confirmed that the Bureau has assessed that the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from a lab incident in Wuhan, China. pic.twitter.com/LcBVNU7vmO

— FBI (@FBI) March 1, 2023

Earlier, the White House had said that there is no definitive conclusion on the origin of COVID-19 and the US government is still looking at this. This came following an Energy Department report labelling China as the source of the pandemic.

The origin of the pandemic has been the subject of vigorous debate among academics, intelligence experts and others across the world from more than two year now.

Responding to questions about the report, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said: "The intelligence community and the rest of the government are still looking at this. There's not been a definitive conclusion, so it's difficult for me to say, nor should I feel like I should have to defend press reporting about a possible preliminary indication here.

The latest controversy erupted after one of United States most prominent newspapers, The Wall Street Journal, cited a classified intelligence report recently provided to the White House saying that Covid-19 most likely emerged from a laboratory leak in China.

According to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, there is a high level of uncertainty in the department's conclusion.