​The United States Department of Energy has concluded that the Covid-19 pandemic most likely originated from a laboratory accident in China, according to a classified report recently released to the White House and key members of the US Congress. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

The new conclusion from the Department of Energy, which was previously undecided about the origin of the virus, is contained in an updated 2021 document prepared by the office of the head of the US Secret Service, Avril Haynes.

The new report highlights that different sectors of the US intelligence community have come to different conclusions about the origins of the pandemic, the Wall Street Journal notes.

As such, the Department of Energy now joins the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in saying that the virus most likely spread through an incident at a Chinese lab. Four other agencies, along with a national intelligence group, still believe it is likely the result of natural transmission, and two agencies are undecided.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s conclusion is the result of new information and is significant, the Wall Street Journal noted, because the department has significant scientific expertise and oversees a network of U.S. national laboratories, some of which conduct advanced biological research.

It should also be noted that the Energy Department released the finding with “a low degree of credibility,” according to people who have read the classified report.

The FBI previously concluded that the pandemic was likely the result of a lab leak, a conclusion it published in 2021 with a “moderate degree of confidence” and still stands by.

A Department of Energy official declined to discuss the details of the review, but said in a statement that the agency “continues to support the thorough, careful and objective work of our specialists investigating the origin of Covid-19, as ordered by the (US) President.”

How did the coronavirus appear? Still a mystery

According to a study published in November in the journal Science, a vendor from an animal market in Wuhan who fell ill on December 11, 2019, is believed to be the first known case of SARS-CoV2 infection worldwide. The first case of the disease was previously believed to be an accountant who appeared to have no connection to the Wuhan market, and his first symptoms appeared on December 16, 2019. The theory that the accountant was the first case of the disease also led to speculation that the virus may have leaked from the laboratory.

In fact, the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease COVID-19 has remained a mystery and a major source of tension between China and the United States for the past 2 years since the pandemic turned our lives upside down. .

A joint study this year by China and the World Health Organization almost completely ruled out the theory that COVID-19 originated in a laboratory, suggesting that the most likely hypothesis is that the virus infected humans naturally, probably through the wildlife trade.

A team of experts led by the World Health Organization spent 4 weeks in and around Wuhan with Chinese scientists and showed in a March 2021 report that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is likely to be transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, but this still requires further research.