US govt still non-committal on origin of Covid-19 pandemic after Energy Dept says lab leak most likely

The American government on 27 February 2023 refused to take a definite stance on the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, days after a report by the US Department of Energy said that a laboratory leak of the virus was the most likely cause.

A senior official of the Joe Biden administration said that the intelligence community and the rest of the government is still looking at the issue.

National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said, "There's not been a definitive conclusion, so it's difficult for me to say, nor should I feel like I should have to defend press reporting about a possible preliminary indication here."

"What the President wants is facts. He wants the whole government designed to go get those facts, and that's what we're doing. And we're just not there yet. And when we're there yet and if we have something that is ready to be briefed to the American people and the Congress, then we're going to do that," he said.

Kirby said that President Joe Biden made trying to find the origins of COVID a priority right when he came into the office. And he’s got a whole-of-government effort designed to do that, he said.

(With agency inputs)

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