CIA Says COVID-19 ‘More Likely’ Came From Chinese Lab

The agency is now one of three top U.S. bodies that link the COVID-19 virus to a Chinese lab.

President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for CIA director, John Ratcliffe, testifies before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 15, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The CIA has found that a lab origin is “more likely” for the COVID-19 pandemic, joining two other top U.S. agencies that have previously made the assessment.

“CIA assesses with low confidence that a research-related origin of the COVID-19 pandemic is more likely than a natural origin based on the available body of reporting,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a Jan. 25 statement to The Epoch Times.