US intelligence still divided on origins of coronavirus

By NOMAAN MERCHANT
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence agencies are still divided on the origins of the coronavirus, but believe China’s leaders did not know about the virus before the start of the global pandemic. That’s according to results released Friday of a review ordered by President Joe Biden. An unclassified summary indicates four members of the U.S. intelligence community say with low confidence that the virus was initially transmitted from an animal to a human. A fifth intelligence agency believes with moderate confidence that the first human infection was linked to a lab. Analysts do not believe the virus was developed as a bioweapon.