WHO says search for COVID-19 origins ongoing as U.S. lab leak report causes stir – National [Video]

The World Health Organization (WHO) is still working to identify the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, its director general said on Friday, after a U.S. agency was reported to have assessed the pandemic had likely been caused by a Chinese laboratory leak.

“I have written to and spoken with high-level Chinese leaders on multiple occasions as recently as just a few weeks ago… all hypotheses on the origins of the virus remain on the table,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the U.S. Energy Department had concluded the pandemic likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak, an assessment Beijing denies.

“I wish to be very clear that WHO has not abandoned any plans to identify the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Tedros said.

The U.S. Energy Department made its judgment with “low confidence” in a classified intelligence report recently provided to the White House and …