CIA Now Favours ‘Lab Leak’ Theory to Explain Covid-19 Origins

The agency issued a new assessment this past week, with analysts saying they now favour the lab leak theory. The CIA has said for years it did not have enough information to conclude whether the Covid-19 pandemic emerged naturally from a wet market in Wuhan, China, or from an accidental leak at a research laboratory there. That shift is based on “the available body of reporting,” although the other theory remains plausible, a spokesperson for the agency said. Mr John Ratcliffe, the new director of the CIA, has long favoured the lab leak hypothesis. He has said it is a…