Washington, March 01 (QNA) – Director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Christopher Wray said the agency has concluded that COVID-19 most likely originated from a potential lab incident in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Wray’s remarks follow reports that an Energy Department classified assessment determined that the virus was the result of a lab leak, although that conclusion was given a “low confidence” rating, Bloomberg reported.

“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Wray said. The Chinese government “has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here, the work that were doing,” he added.

Wrays assertion comes at a crucial time in Chinese-US relations. The two countries have been sparring over issues from Taiwan to technology and surveillance, and Chinas potential support for Russia’s war on Ukraine.

China on Monday rejected the US report which claims the COVID-19 virus may have leaked from a bio laboratory in Wuhan. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the international experts have considered the theory that the pandemic might have leaked from a Chinese laboratory as “extremely unlikely”.

She said that the origins-tracing of the pandemic “is about science and should not be politicized.” (QNA)

Source: Qatar News Agency