The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released its highly anticipated report detailing its investigation into the Wuhan Institute of Virology on Friday, offering few revelations that were not already previously known about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic
The 10-page report contended that the illnesses of three lab workers in late 2019 were likely unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic and that the widespread disease did not originate from the lab itself. However, it noted that United States intelligence agencies remain split on the origins of the pandemic, offering few answers to those pressing for answers.
HERE'S WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE WAGNER REBELLION AGAINST THE RUSSIAN MILITARY
The report comes after Congress passed the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 earlier this year, calling on the U.S. intelligence community to declassify information detailing investigations into possible links between the Wuhan lab and the pandemic’s origins. However, the report declined to address the merits of the two leading theories of the COVID-19 pandemic or determine which is more likely.
Here are three main takeaways from Friday’s report:
No direct evidence the pandemic originated from lab
The report confirmed that scientists at the Wuhan lab did conduct extensive research on coronaviruses and that many of the workers had genetically engineered some viruses “using common laboratory practices.”
However, the agency’s findings conclude that there is no evidence that SARS-CoV-2, the strain responsible for COVID-19, was a result of those efforts.
“Scientists at the WIV have created chimeras, or combinations, of SARS-like coronaviruses through genetic engineering, attempted to clone other unrelated infectious viruses, and used reverse genetic cloning techniques on SARS-like coronaviruses,” the report states. “The IC has no information, however, indicating that any WIV genetic engineering work has involved SARS-CoV-2, a close progenitor, or a backbone virus that is closely-related enough to have been the source of the pandemic.”
Lab workers did not use ‘adequate’ precautions
Although the report did not conclude a direct link between the lab and the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency did find that institute workers “probably did not use adequate biosafety precaution” while conducting research.
That safety failure likely increased the risk of “accidental exposure” to viruses that caused the three workers to fall ill. However, there’s no evidence those safety measures could have led to a virus leak causing the pandemic.
“We do not know of a specific biosafety incident at the WIV that spurred the pandemic and the WIV’s biosafety training appears routine, rather than an emergency response by China’s leadership,” the report states.
Lab workers’ illness ‘consistent’ with COVID-19
The report also provided extensive details into the illnesses of three lab workers, which was first reported by the State Department near the end of the Trump administration. That revelation prompted researchers and several U.S. intelligence agencies to investigate whether those illnesses could have been the first confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The report found that “some of their symptoms” were consistent with those of the novel coronavirus, but determined they were “not diagnostic.” However, the report clarified that the assessment “neither supports nor refutes” theories of whether the pandemic originated inside a lab or from natural causes.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“The researchers’ symptoms could have been caused by a number of diseases and some of the symptoms were not consistent with COVID-19,” according to the report.
“While several WIV researchers fell mildly ill in Fall 2019, they experienced a range of symptoms consistent with colds or allergies with accompanying symptoms typically not associated with COVID-19, and some of them were confirmed to have been sick with other illnesses unrelated to COVID-19," the report continued. "While some of these researchers had historically conducted research into animal respiratory viruses, we are unable to confirm if any of them handled live viruses in the work they performed prior to falling ill.”