Biden directs intel authorities to probe COVID-19’s origin [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• President Joe Biden has mandated intelligence authorities to “redouble” their investigation efforts on the origins of the novel coronavirus.
• Intelligence officials are contemplating whether the virus was “lab made” or from an animal.
• Biden was encouraging China to fully cooperate on the issue to determine the root of the virus.

President Joe Biden asked intelligence officials on Wednesday to “redouble” their movements to probe the novel coronavirus’ origin, which include validating the rumor that it was made in a lab in Wuhan, China.

Washington is mounting pressure on Beijing, as the former demanded the latter to be transparent about the nature and source of the virus.

Rather going with the major route saying that the virus originated from an animal, former President Donald Trump pushed the conspiracy theory that the virus was a result of a laboratory experiment which ended up being an accident.

In a statement, Biden said that bulk of the intelligence people had “coalesced” around the different scenarios. They, however, don’t think that “there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other.”

The president added that out of the 18 intelligence agencies, two of them believed about the animal-origin story while one agency “leans more toward” the lab speculation, saying “each with low or moderate confidence.”

Further, Biden has mandated national laboratories to reinforce the investigation of the matter, and has also asked China to collaborate with the efforts to determine the inception of the virus.

“The United States will also keep working with like-minded partners around the world to press China to participate in a full, transparent, evidence-based international investigation and to provide access to all relevant data and evidence,” he said.

Since Beijing is still being uncooperative with international efforts, Biden emphasized that it would be unlikely to arrive at a truthful finding.

“The failure to get our inspectors on the ground in those early months will always hamper any investigation into the origin of COVID-19,” he added.

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the Biden administration would like to push for another investigation by the World Health Organization in China, while confessing that the Asian powerhouse would need to “finally step up and allow access needed to determine the origins.”

Source: AOL.com