The news comes after the CIA announced over the weekend that COVID-19 most likely originated from a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2020.

China urged the US to “stop politicising and instrumentalising the issue of origin-tracing”. Read more at straitstimes.com.

It was unclear the extent to which the agency has collected new intelligence on COVID-19's origins and whether that new evidence was used to formulate the latest assessment.

The CIA announced on Saturday that it now considers a lab leak a more likely origin for the COVID-19 pandemic than a natural transmission, although the agency maintains "low confidence" in this assessment.

The Central Intelligence Agency previously said that two explanations were plausible, a lab leak or a natural source for the virus. Yet under new agency director John Ratcliffe, the CIA has changed its view, which is now in line with that of the Department of Energy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The CIA says both a natural origin and a lab leak "remain plausible" as potential sources of covid-19, following a review of the pandemic's origins.

China’s oyster imports softened significantly in 2024, particularly hurting the nation’s key supplier: France. Official customs data shows China imported 1,570 metric tons (MT) of oysters last year, down on the 2,090 MT imported the year before and down even more than the 2,130 MT China bought in 2022.

Missouri is suing China for its role in the COVID-19 pandemic, Attorney General Andrew Bailey says.The bench trial began at 2 p.m. on Monday, January 27 at the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau. It ended just before 3 p.

Langley joins the FBI and Energy Department in agreeing that a lab leak is the most likely source of the pandemic.

The Show Me State vows to seize $25 billion in Chinese assets if Beijing doesn't pay damages related to the outbreak of COVID-19.

Five years ago today, a global announcement was made that saw the world change.