Agency Report –
Berlin – Germany’s BND intelligence agency reportedly gathered plausible evidence that the coronavirus pandemic originated with a laboratory leak in the Chinese city of Wuhan, according to reports by three newspapers on Wednesday.
The BND and Germany’s Chancellery had asked scientists to examine the evidence over recent months, although the outcome of that assessment was not immediately available, according to reports in the NZZ, Süddeutsche and Die Zeit newspapers.
The so-called “lab leak” theory has long been a prominent but controversial explanation for the deadly global pandemic.
It posits that the Sars-CoV-2 virus originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which conducted research on coronaviruses, and began spreading through some sort of accident or failure at the lab.
The other major theory for the pandemic’s origin is that the virus had a purely natural origin, just like the SARS outbreak in 2002-3.
Not all researchers involved in the BND round were equally convinced that the virus clearly came from the laboratory, according to the NZZ.
Some see the probability of a man-made pandemic from the institute growing steadily, but have not yet wanted to commit themselves.
Deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann told journalists in Berlin that they had taken note of the reports. However, it was not possible to comment on intelligence findings and activities.
She said that the responsible committees of the German parliament, which meet in secret, would be informed in such matters.
In January, US President Donald Trump’s newly appointed director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, changed his agency’s assessment of the origin of the coronavirus as one of his first official acts.
Based on the available reports, Ratcliffe announced that a research-related origin of the Covid-19 pandemic is more likely than a natural origin.
However, the uncertainties surrounding this assessment are great and work is continuing to investigate the origin, the agency stated.
Previously, the CIA had taken the position that there was insufficient information to assess whether the virus had jumped from an animal to humans or was the result of a mishap in a Chinese laboratory.
Ratcliffe, a Republican former lawmaker, has long advocated the laboratory theory and accused Beijing of concealing the origin of the virus.
One argument put forward by supporters of the laboratory theory is that China could and should have provided scientific evidence for the natural origin of the virus long ago.
“Chinese scientists have all the technical possibilities for this,” virologist Christian Drosten told Germany’s taz newspaper in January.
Drosten had expected such studies to be published – but they never came.
The more time passes, the more sceptical he becomes, he told the newspaper.
At present, however, Drosten still believes that Sars-CoV-2 is more likely to have a natural origin – “and almost all scientists working on the subject agree with this.”
Based on the currently available – albeit weak – data, it can be assumed that the transmission to humans took place via intermediate hosts, for example on animal farms, Fabian Leendertz, director of the Helmholtz Institute for One Health in Greifswald, told dpa.
Ultimately, however, there is still a lack of evidence for the natural origin as well as for the laboratory origin, according to Drosten.
By Anne-Béatrice Clasmann and Annett Stein
