U.S. President Joe Biden has ordered intelligence agencies to "redouble" efforts in investigating the origins of COVID-19. He wants answers within 90 days.
Pressure Triggers Biden's New Order
Biden continues to be pressured on pushing China to be more transparent in studies and investigations into the origins of COVID.
Biden said collaboration between intelligence organizations and national laboratories should be established. He said cooperation could develop a list of specific questions addressed to the China government.
Biden has called on China to cooperate with world efforts to determine the real origins of the virus.
For the past several weeks, the Biden administration has avoided discussions on a theory COVID may have been unintentionally leaked from a laboratory.
This time, Biden said two U.S intelligence agencies had been focusing on two theories: the animal related theory and the lab theory that Republicans promoted at the peak of the pandemic.
Why The Focus On Lab Leak Theory Now?
Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported three researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology fell ill and sought hospital care in November 2019.
The information came from a previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report.
The report was said to have stated that the sick researchers developed "symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illness." The report was issued during the final White House days of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
The report has rekindled the lab leak theory.
Officials with knowledge of the have mixed insights. Some said the evidence was strong, others said it needed further investigation.
White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the order "is just a continuation of what the president has been focused on."
Separate Investigations By House And Senate
Two Congressional officials said earlier this week U.S. Senate and House of Representatives had been conducting their own investigations.
The officials said the investigations were also focused on how the White House has responded to the pandemic.
Despite increasing interest in a lab leak, sources from the government warned American spy agencies had yet to establish an accurate conclusion.
Both the House Intelligence Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee continue to pressure local agencies to provide information they may have found.
