U.S. intelligence community concludes coronavirus not developed as bioweapon

But the community remains divided on the pathogen's origins

The U.S. intelligence community has reached "broad agreement" that the coronavirus was not developed as a bioweapon, and most U.S. agencies assess with "low confidence" it was not genetically engineered, according to an unclassified summary of a report. But the community remains divided on the pathogen's origins, with four agencies and the National Intelligence Council judging in favor of natural exposure to an animal as the likely explanation, one agency favoring the lab leak theory and three unable to reach a conclusion. The U.S. does not believe Chinese officials had foreknowledge of the virus before the initial outbreak of Covid-19 began.