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
- Dec. 31, 2019: The World Health Organization's country office in China notified the International Health Regulations (IHR) of "viral pneumonia" cases as provided by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission to local media
- Jan. 9, 2020: Chinese health authorities determined that the clustered cases of pneumonia were caused by a novel coronavirus
- Jan. 11, 2020: Chinese state media reported the first known death from the disease
- Jan. 21, 2020: United States confirms its first reported case
- Jan. 30, 2020: World Health Organization declaresglobal health emergency
- Feb. 2, 2020:The Philippines reports first death outside China
- Feb. 7, 2020:Whistleblower doctor who tried to raise alarms about the new virus dies after getting infected
- Feb. 11, 2020: The disease was named COVID-19
- Feb. 29, 2020: U.S. reports first known death in the country
- March 11, 2020: World Health Organization labelsCOVID-19 as a pandemic
- March 17, 2020: European Union puts ban on most travelers outside the bloc
- March 24, 2020: India implements 21-day lockdown to contain the virus
- April 2, 2020: Global cases soar past 1 million
- April 5, 2020: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson put into intensive care after contracting the virus
- May 4 - May 9, 2020: Multiple companies in the U.S. file for bankruptcy
- June 28, 2020: Global deathspass the 500,000-mark
- July 7, 2020: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tests positive
- Aug. 11, 2020: Russia becomes first country in the world to green light COVID-19 vaccine
- Sept. 7, 2020: India becomes second hardest-hit country, only behind the U.S.
- Oct. 2, 2020: Former U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife test positive
- Nov. 4, 2020: U.S. breaks single-day record of 100,000 confirmed coronavirus cases
- Dec. 21, 2020: U.K. announces new COVID-19 strain
