Covid Pandemic 'Most Likely' Caused By Chinese Lab Leak, Says FBI

"The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan," FBI Director Christopher Wray told Fox News on Tuesday.

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday stated that the COVID-19 pandemic was most likely caused by a laboratory leak in China

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New Delhi: FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday stated that the COVID-19 pandemic was most likely caused by a laboratory leak in Wuhan, China, providing the first public confirmation of the bureau’s classified judgment of how the virus emerged.

"The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan," Wray told Fox News on Tuesday.

Wray said that he believes that Beijing has been working to undermine the investigation from the United States and other members of the international community. 

“I will just make the observation that the Chinese government, it seems to me, has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here. The work that we’re doing, the work that our U.S. government and close foreign partners are doing. And that’s unfortunate for everybody,” he said. 

His comments come a couple of days after the US Energy Department (DOE) released a report that determined with "low confidence" that the pandemic originated from a lab leak in China. 

Four other agencies, along with a national intelligence panel, still judge that the pandemic was likely the result of natural transmission, and two are undecided, Reuters reported citing the published report.

The FBI and Energy Department’s assessments are included in a classified report that was provided to the White House and some lawmakers earlier this year.

On Monday, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said that the US government has not reached a definitive conclusion and consensus on the pandemic's origins.

China's foreign ministry, when asked to comment on the report, referred to a WHO-China report that pointed toward a natural origin for the pandemic, rather than a lab leak, according to Reuters.

Wray said he couldn't share many details of the agency’s assessment because they were classified.