A pair of 'significant' findings from an otherwise inconclusive U.S. intelligence report on coronavirus origins


A review by the United States' intelligence community did not reach a firm conclusion on the origin of the coronavirus that sparked the COVID-19 pandemic, but it still may prove quite helpful moving forward.
While the report, ordered by President Biden earlier this year, determined only that both natural spillover from an infected animal and a lab leak were plausible theories as to how the pathogen jumped to humans, an unclassified summary of the report released Friday did show that there was broad agreement among the intelligence community on multiple areas, including that the virus was "not developed as a biological weapon" and that Chinese officials "did not have foreknowledge" of the virus ahead of the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, back in the fall of 2019.
Those don't provide a clear answer to the origin question, but they're still "significant," Robert Garry, a microbiologist at Tulane University School of Medicine, told NPR. He argued that if government officials didn't know about the coronavirus, then it's unlikely the Wuhan Institute of Virology — the lab most often associated with a potential lab leak — would have, either. "It's huge to mainly rule out that this is a product of engineering," Garry told Nature.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Per NPR, Garry thinks the report moves "the needle" toward "the natural origin" theory in that case. "I think you have to look at the scientific data that's out there," he said. "Follow the science, follow the animals." Read more at NPR and Nature.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
Harvard sues Trump over frozen grant money
Speed Read The Trump administration withheld $2.2 billion in federal grants and contracts after Harvard rejected its demands
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Trump tariffs place trucking industry in the crosshairs
IN THE SPOTLIGHT As the White House barrels ahead with its massive tariff project, American truckers are feeling the heat from a global trade war
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Trump stands by Hegseth amid ouster reports
Speed Read The president dismissed reports that he was on the verge of firing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over a second national security breach
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
RFK Jr. visits Texas as 2nd child dies from measles
Speed Read An outbreak of the vaccine-preventable disease continues to grow following a decade of no recorded US measles deaths
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Shingles vaccine cuts dementia risk, study finds
Speed Read Getting vaccinated appears to significantly reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Measles outbreak spreads, as does RFK Jr.'s influence
Speed Read The outbreak centered in Texas has grown to at least three states and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promoting unproven treatments
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Five years on: How Covid changed everything
Feature We seem to have collectively forgotten Covid’s horrors, but they have completely reshaped politics
By The Week US
-
RFK Jr. offers alternative remedies as measles spreads
Speed Read Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes unsupported claims about containing the spread as vaccine skepticism grows
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Texas outbreak brings 1st US measles death since 2015
Speed read The outbreak is concentrated in a 'close-knit, undervaccinated' Mennonite community in rural Gaines County
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Mystery illness spreading in Congo rapidly kills dozens
Speed Read The World Health Organization said 53 people have died in an outbreak that originated in a village where three children ate a bat carcass
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Ozempic can curb alcohol cravings, study finds
Speed read Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also be helpful in limiting alcohol consumption
By Peter Weber, The Week US