British agents think it is ‘feasible’ Covid came from Wuhan lab leak
British intelligence agents now reportedly believe it is “feasible” Covid-19 originated in a Chinese research lab and not from a Wuhan wet market.
Agents are now investigating whether the virus originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology and accidentally escaped, a prospect forcefully denied by Beijing, just days after Joe Biden said this theory needed to be seriously investigated by US intelligence.
Trump intelligence reports
One of Donald Trump’s last acts in office was to release intelligence reports that indicated people at the Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick with a Covid-like virus in 2019.
The Sunday Times reports that British intelligence is working alongside the US to try and investigate the possibility that Beijing has covered up the real origin of coronavirus.
A western intelligence source told the Times that the Chinese government’s secrecy will make it difficult for any conclusions to be reached.
“There might be pockets of evidence that take us one way, and evidence that takes us another way,” they said.
“The Chinese will lie either way. I don’t think we will ever know.”
Intelligence agencies said at the beginning of the pandemic that it was unlikely Covid-19 came from a Wuhan lab, however the theory has been reappraised in recent months.
Sars virus strains
Exponents of the theory say China was researching and manipulating different strains of Sars viruses when it accidentally escaped into the general population through researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Biden said earlier this week that the US needed to “redouble” its efforts to look into the theory and that American intelligence was split on where Covid originated.
China’s US embassy called the lab leak theory a smear campaign and an example of ” blame shifting”.
Speaking to Sky News today, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said: “I think it’s important the World Health Organisation is allowed to conduct its investigation unencumbered to the origins of this pandemic and we leave no stone unturned as to why the current pandemic has swept the world and for future proofing the world’s capability in dealing with pandmeics.”