Biden Orders Investigation into Origins of Coronavirus

U.S. President Joe Biden has ordered American intelligence agencies to investigate the origins of the coronavirus. The United States has accused China of controlling and limiting the World Health Organization’s investigations into the source of the coronavirus.

Joe Biden, President of the United States, has instructed the country’s security agencies to find the source of the coronavirus pandemic outbreak.

In a statement released by the U.S. President’s office, it is noted that investigations conducted so far on this matter have presented varying assessments, but have not reached definitive conclusions. For this reason, U.S. intelligence agencies must intensify their efforts and prepare another report within 90 days.

Based on Joe Biden’s position, the possibility of accidental release of the coronavirus from a laboratory in China is considered probable, at least in parts of the U.S. security apparatus. This was an accusation that former U.S. President Donald Trump had leveled against China.

The Wall Street Journal has once again raised this possibility in a report.

Result of Negligence?

The coronavirus was first seen at the end of 2019 in Wuhan, China. For a long time, there was speculation that the virus had been transferred from a virology center in Wuhan and possibly as a result of an accident to the outside of the laboratory. No evidence was provided to prove these speculations.

Trump and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo repeatedly claimed that the coronavirus originated from a laboratory. Trump spoke of the possibility of “a terrible mistake” and stated: “It was probably incompetence and the work of a fool.”

But neither he nor any members of his administration could provide evidence for this claim. China also strongly rejected the accusation.

The Chinese government has also denied the Wall Street Journal report in recent days. According to this report, citing U.S. security sources, three scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology became severely ill and were hospitalized in November 2019.

In his statement, Biden criticized the fact that American inspectors were unable to gain access to necessary documents to conduct investigations in the early months of the pandemic during Trump’s presidency, and he considered this “shortcoming” to be the cause of preventing any investigation.

American Doubt about WHO Report

At the international level, efforts were also made to find the source of the coronavirus. The World Health Organization published investigation results in March, based on which the coronavirus could have originated not only from bats but also from other mammals with scales (pangolins).

The theory of a laboratory origin of the coronavirus was assessed as “very unlikely” by researchers in this group.

The United States, however, has questioned the quality of this investigation and called for further investigations. The United States accuses China of having inappropriate and excessive influence over international researchers who conducted these investigations.

According to the U.S. claim, Beijing strictly controlled and limited these investigations. Furthermore, scientists who conducted this research did not have access to all the evidence and original documents and laboratory samples.

International experts, after months of delays by Beijing, were able to travel to Wuhan in early 2021 to conduct these investigations.

Source: DW