The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) issued a public statement Thursday saying that U.S. intelligence agencies continue to assess data on potential origins of the new coronavirus and currently agree with the “wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified.”
The intelligence community said its experts respond to crises by coming up with intelligence on issues that are critical to national security and the IC has been offering support to policymakers and individuals who help in response efforts to fight the COVID-19 virus, which emerged in Wuhan, China.
“The IC will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan,” the statement reads.
The U.S. has reported more than 1M COVID-19 cases with over 62K deaths and more than 150K recoveries, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.
