Biden briefed on US intel assessment of COVID-19's origins

President Joe Biden has been briefed on a classified report from his intelligence community probing the origins of COVID-19, White House officials tell ABC News.

President Joe Biden has been briefed on a classified report from his intelligence community probing the origins of COVID-19, White House officials told ABC News. As the assessment made its way to Biden's desk, intelligence agencies were working in tandem to prepare an unclassified summary for public consumption, officials said. The delivery of the assessment met the deadline for Biden's 90-day deeper dig into the virus' origins, which was launched when the president directed intelligence agencies in May to "redouble their efforts" after prior efforts failed to yield a definitive conclusion. But with one deadline met, international scientists tasked with studying the virus' origins warned Wednesday that another crucial window is "closing fast": the shrinking opportunity for any thorough scientific study to be completed. As time wears on, potential evidence wanes, and tracing back biologic breadcrumbs will yield diminishing returns, said more than ten of the authors of a World Health Organization-led report that is urging action to "fast-track the follow-up scientific work required" for better answers by the WHO.