Two Republican U.S. federal senators introduced the Covid-19 Origins Act of 2021 on Thursday (April 22). The bill would require the Biden administration to declassify information involving a potential link between China’s Wuhan Institute of Virus Research and the origins of the New Coronavirus pandemic.
The bill is co-sponsored by Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, and Senator Mike Braun, a Republican from Indiana.
“For more than a year, anyone who raised questions about the Wuhan Virus Institute has been labeled a conspiracy theorist. The world needs to know if this pandemic is the product of negligence at the Wuhan lab, but the Chinese Communist Party has done everything it can to prevent a credible investigation,” Hawley said in a statement.
The Republican congressman added, “That’s why the Biden administration must declassify what it knows about this Wuhan lab and Beijing’s attempts to cover up the origins of the pandemic.”
Senator Hawley called for an international investigation into China’s handling of the outbreak in March 2020. Last April, he introduced the Pursuing Justice for Victims of the New Coronavirus Act, which would allow U.S. citizens to sue the Chinese government and seek compensation. The senator, who is seen as a hawk on China, has introduced several bills on China.
Braun, a co-sponsor of the bill, also said in a statement, “Determining the origins of the New Coronavirus pandemic is critical to preventing future pandemics, and as investigations and research into the origins of the virus continue, the Biden administration should declassify intelligence related to any potential link between the biological research laboratory in Wuhan, China, and the New Coronavirus pandemic. “
The Washington Post editorial board, often critical of Republicans, has also called on Biden to declassify any intelligence related to the Wuhan lab.
The WaPo editorial board published an article in February that said former President Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement in January that the U.S. government had reason to believe that several researchers within the WVL fell ill in the fall of 2019 with symptoms consistent with neocoronavirus disease and common seasonal illnesses. The WaPo called on the Biden administration to declassify the intelligence behind this Pompeo statement, after properly concealing the sources and collection methods. Both China and the United States need full transparency,” the article said. …… The truth is important, and the United States should not hide any relevant evidence.”
Dr. Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said in a recent interview that he believes the new coronavirus was leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virus Research, but Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s chief infectious disease expert, said most U.S. public health experts don’t see it that way.
Last Wednesday, U.S. Intelligence Director Avril Haines testified before Congress that U.S. intelligence agencies have not determined the origin of the new coronavirus, but did not rule out the possibility that the new coronavirus was leaked from a Wuhan laboratory.
She said in response to a question from Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, “It is absolutely accurate to say that the intelligence community does not know exactly where, when and how the New Coronavirus was originally transmitted. “
Haynes said there are basically two major accounts, one possibility that it occurred naturally due to human contact with infected animals, and another possibility that it was a laboratory accident.
A team of experts from the World Health Organization had traveled to Wuhan to investigate the origin of the new coronavirus and eventually published a preliminary investigation report. The report suggested four possibilities for the origin of the virus. The panel concluded that the new coronavirus most likely originated in animals and was highly unlikely to have been leaked by a laboratory in Wuhan. But critics say the Chinese government restricted access to the panel’s investigation and failed to provide raw data.
After the World Health Organization released its report on the origin of the new coronavirus, the United States and 13 other countries issued statements raising “common concerns” about the report.
After the report was called into question, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference that there was still a need to investigate the possibility of a laboratory leak of the virus.
“Although the investigation team concluded that a laboratory leak was the least likely hypothesis, this needs further investigation,” he said. Tandse said at the time that virus traceability experts would follow up on the initial report.
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