British intel: Lab leak theory 'feasible'

London, May 30

British intelligence agencies now believe it is “feasible” that the Covid-19 pandemic began with a virus leak from a Chinese laboratory, a media report said on Sunday, prompting UK’s Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi to demand that the WHO must fully investigate the origins of the deadly virus.

China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is near the outbreak’s known epicentre of Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in late 2019 and became a pandemic. “There might be pockets of evidence that take us one way, and evidence that takes us another way. The Chinese will lie either way. I don’t think we will ever know,” said a western intelligence source familiar with UK’s role in the investigation.

Speaking to Sky News, Britain’s Vaccines Minister said: “It’s vital that the WHO is allowed to conduct its investigation unencumbered.” Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, said: “The silence from Wuhan is troubling. We need to open the crypt and see what happened to be able to protect ourselves in the future. That means starting an investigation, along with partners around the world and in the WHO.”

Last week, US President Joe Biden had ordered US intelligence agencies to “redouble” their efforts in investigating the emergence of the deadly pandemic and report back in 90 days. Former US president Donald Trump was among those who supported the theory that the virus might have escaped from a bio lab in China. PTI