Washington: FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday his agency believes the COVID-19 pandemic was “most likely” caused by an incident in a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
“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 in an interview with Fox News.
The comments come after a report earlier this week said the US Department of Energy had determined that a leak from a Chinese lab was the most likely cause of the Covid-19 outbreak.
However, other agencies within the American intelligence community believe the virus emerged naturally in the world.
In the interview, Wray also accused the Chinese government of trying to stall US efforts to investigate the causes of the pandemic.
“The Chinese government... has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here, the work that we’re doing, the work that our US government and close foreign partners are doing,” Wray said. “And that’s unfortunate for everybody.”
Chinese officials have angrily denied the claim, calling it a smear campaign against Beijing.
The scientific community sees it as crucial to determine the origins of the pandemic in order to better fight or even prevent the next one.
FBI director says COVID-19 ‘most likely’ caused by Wuhan lab accident
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FBI director says COVID-19 ‘most likely’ caused by Wuhan lab accident
- US Department of Energy had determined that a leak from a Chinese lab was the most likely cause of the Covid-19 outbreak
Coast Guard rescue 52 migrants off Greece, boy missing
- They found 13 migrants who had arrived on the small, uninhabited island
- Another 39 migrants were found on board an inflatable boat off the southern island of Crete
ATHENS: Greek coast guard were searching Thursday for a missing child off the island of Farmakonisi after rescuing 52 migrants in two separate incidents in the Aegean Sea, local media reported.
They found 13 migrants who had arrived on the small, uninhabited island, but one boy was reported missing from the group, said the ANA news agency.
Another 39 migrants were found on board an inflatable boat off the southern island of Crete, according to the same source. They were taken to the village of Kaloi Limenes in Crete. No details about their nationality were provided.
Two coast guard vessels and an airforce helicopter were deployed for the operation off Farmakonisi, opposite the Turkish coast.
Many migrants try to reach the Greek islands from Turkiye or Libya as a way of entering the European Union. But both crossings are perilous.
Earlier this month, 17 people were found dead in a migrant boat drifting off Crete. Another 15 people were reported missing. The vessel had set off from the Libyan port of Tobruk and most of those who died were from Sudan or Egypt.
The UN refugee agency said more than 16,770 asylum seekers in the EU have arrived on Crete since the start of the year — more than any other island in the Aegean Sea.
