Coronavirus

Intelligence Agencies Look Into Whether COVID-19 Started In A Lab

U.S. intelligence says COVID-19 wasn't manmade or modified.

Intelligence Agencies Look Into Whether COVID-19 Started In A Lab
AP / Sam McNeil
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U.S. intelligence agencies say that, though the coronavirus wasn't manmade or modified, they are still looking into whether the pandemic could have originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the intelligence community "will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan."

An intelligence source told CNN that agencies are trying to find out if someone in the lab was infected due to poor handling of materials.

While conspiracy theories that the virus was manmade gained traction over the past month, experts have said that the virus' genome rules provide proof that it couldn't be made by humans. Scientists say the virus jumped from bats to humans, and the leading theory is that it originated at a wet market in Wuhan.

Additional reporting by Zeke Miller of the Associated Press.

Contains footage from CNN