The CIA now believes The virus responsible for the 19 pandemic It most likely came from the labs, according to an assessment released Saturday, which points the finger at China even as the spy agency has “low confidence.”

Find no new intelligence, and the report ended for the Biden administration and former CIA director William Burns.

“The CIA assesses with low confidence that a research origin of Pandemic 19 is more likely than a natural origin, based on the existing reporting body. 19 Pandemic remains committed.

The Biden administration's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, ordered a classified review in December of U.S. intelligence gathered on the origins of WWII, one current and one former official confirmed to CBS News. Sullivan convened a panel of outside experts to evaluate the intelligence and asked the intelligence community to review its data and form a conclusion.Both officials told CBS News there was no new “smoking gun” but a low confidence estimate based on the same data Burns ordered the review before leaving the CIA, citing high-level policy interest.

The subtle finding suggests that the agency believes the totality of the evidence makes a laboratory origin more likely than a natural origin. But the agency's assessment gives a low degree of confidence in this conclusion, suggesting the evidence is insufficient, inconclusive, or conflicting.

Earlier reports on the origins of Covid-19 Divided over whether the coronavirus emerged from Chinese labs by mistake, or whether it arose naturally, the new assessment likely won't settle the debate. In fact, intelligence officials say it never will to be resolved, to be bound Lack of cooperation from the Chinese authoritiesA series

Instead of new evidence, the conclusion was based on fresh intelligence analyzes of the spread of the virus, its scientific properties, and the work and conditions of China's virology laboratories.

Lawmakers have pressed America's spy agencies for more information about the origins of the virus, which has led to lockdowns, economic upheaval and millions of deaths, a question that has important domestic and geopolitical implications as the world continues to grapple with the pandemic's legacy.

REPUBLICAN SENATOR ARKANSAS TOKANS, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Saturday, he “satisfied the CIA, It was in the last days of the Biden administration that the laboratory leak theory is the most disturbing explanation.”

“The bottom line now is that China is paying for unleashing a plague on the world,” Cotton said in a statement.

Chinese authorities dismissed speculation about the coffin's origins as politically motivated, with a spokesman for the Chinese embassy saying on Saturday that the CIA report lacked credibility.

“We are strongly against the politicization and tightening of the source of the virus and once again call on everyone to respect science and stay away from conspiracy theories,” said Lugengu, the spokesperson of Dondassankh.

Although the origin of the virus remains unknown, scientists believe the most likely hypothesis is that it circulated in bats, like many coronaviruses, before infecting another species, perhaps raccoon dogs or bamboo rats, which in turn spread to humans or butchering those animals in the Wuhan market, where the first Human affairs appeared in late November 2019A series

Several official investigations, however, have raised the question of whether the virus escaped from labs in Wuhan, with an Energy Department report sealing a lab leak as the likely source, although the report also expressed low confidence in the findings.

That same year, FBI Director Christopher Vrouy said his agency believed it was “most likely” the virus spread after escaping into the lab.

Ratcliffe, who served as Director of National Intelligence during Trump's first term, said he favors the lab leak scenario.

“The lab leak is the only theory supported by science, intelligence and common sense,” Ratcliffe said in 2023.

The CIA said it would continue to evaluate any new information that might change its assessment.

contributed to this report.