U.S. Lab Theory Of COVID-19 Origins Still In Play

Two theories are at the center of the U.S. government's search for COVID-19's origins - including that the pandemic started as a result of a laboratory accident.

During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Wednesday, director of U.S. National Intelligence Avril Haines acknowledged the intelligence community still had no idea how COVID emerged.

On the other hand, Haines said the agency is looking into "two alternative theories." One is that the novel coronavirus started "naturally from human contact with infected animals" and the second being "a laboratory accident."

Haines said the intelligence community was collecting information.

Central Intelligence Agency director William Burns said the Chinese government has not been "fully transparent" in its work with the World Health Organization.

The organization sent a team of experts late in January to Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus was first detected. It said the information and data examined wasn't enough to determine when, where and how the virus started spreading.

U.S. Secretary Of State Anthony Blinken said it was crucial to "get to the bottom" of COVID-19's origins. He said China refused to share information about the early days of the pandemic.

Blinken said there was a need for countries around the world to commit to information sharing, transparency and expert access during a pandemic.

COVID Quick Timeline from December 2019 - December 2020