BND Attributes COVID-19 Origins to Wuhan Lab Incident

The German Federal Intelligence Service, known as the BND, posits that a laboratory accident in Wuhan, China, might be the source of the COVID-19 pandemic. This conclusion, reached as early as 2020, stems from an intelligence operation coded "Saaremaa". The operation gathered evidence indicating safety breaches and high-risk experiments on viruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Reports suggest that the BND assessed the likelihood of a lab-origin scenario at 80% to 95%. Despite the potential implications of these findings, the German chancellery decided to keep this information confidential. The former Chancellor Angela Merkel and other government officials have refrained from commenting on the matter.

Upon the change of government to Olaf Scholz's administration, the BND briefed the new chancellery. However, neither the World Health Organization nor the German Parliamentary Control Panel for Intelligence Services was informed. The German government has since tasked external experts, including esteemed virologists, with verifying the BND's findings. No conclusive results have emerged as yet.

While the BND maintains a strong likelihood of a lab origin, the question remains controversial and politically sensitive. The Chinese government has consistently denied these claims, complicating international efforts to ascertain the virus's origins. Meanwhile, the US intelligence community remains divided on the issue, with differing levels of confidence expressed. The matter of COVID-19's origins continues to be a global enigma, with significant repercussions for public health and geopolitics.