Scientists Should Probe Lab Leak Origin of COVID-19, Analysts Say
Voice of America
WASHINGTON - Analysts say there is increasing interest in determining whether the coronavirus leaked from a research lab in Wuhan, China, where the deadly virus was first detected in humans, as the U.S. intelligence community acts on President Joe Biden's directive to "redouble" efforts to investigate the origins of COVID-19.
Michael Pillsbury, director for Chinese strategy at the conservative Hudson Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank, said he expects U.S. intelligence agencies to integrate all available information before reporting to Biden, who set a 90-day deadline when he ordered the probe on May 26. Pillsbury suggested that investigators examine satellite imagery and interview researchers. "Frankly, part of the study I advocate should include asking Chinese officials and researchers, 'What do you know?'" the former Trump adviser told VOA Mandarin. China, however, has already blasted Biden's investigation. The day after the U.S. president requested it, Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, said in a regular press briefing that "the U.S., instead of examining its own behavior, attempted to scapegoat China. What are they up to?" The pandemic's toll in the U.S. is the world's worst, with slightly more than 33,334,000 million cases and 596,723 deaths as of Friday, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Research Center.