According to a report in a local newspaper in Germany on Wednesday (March 12), the Federal Intelligence Service of Germany (BND) assessed in 2020 that there was an 80% to 90% likelihood that the coronavirus (COVID-19) that triggered the pandemic originated from an accidental leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
The report from German publications “Die Zeit” and “Süddeutsche Zeitung” stated that the BND had evidence indicating that the Wuhan Institute had conducted “Gain-of-Function” experiments, which involve artificially modifying viruses found in nature for research purposes to make them more easily transmissible to humans.
Furthermore, as reported by “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” on Wednesday, in recent weeks the German Chancellery organized meetings for a group of professional scientists at the Federal Intelligence Service. The first meeting took place last year, involving prominent virologists. Through thorough investigation, they found a significant amount of evidence pointing to the virus leaking from a Chinese laboratory.
The report highlighted that the intelligence agency also discovered multiple instances of safety violations at the relevant laboratories.
According to the report, the assessment by the intelligence agency was based on an unspecified intelligence operation codenamed “Saaremaa” and publicly available data. The report was commissioned by the office of the then German Chancellor Angela Merkel (November 2005-December 2021), but was never publicly released.
The BND declined a request for comment from Reuters. Outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, when asked about the report during a press conference on Wednesday, also refused to comment.
The report stated that the assessment report was shared with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the fall of 2024.
On January 25, the CIA released a statement supporting the theory that the COVID-19 pandemic originated from an accidental leak at a Wuhan laboratory.
The CIA statement said that based on current reports, the likelihood of the COVID-19 pandemic originating from a laboratory research leak is higher. However, the statement added that due to the “low credence” of this conclusion, the agency will continue to evaluate, acknowledging that both laboratory and natural origins are possible at this stage.
Recently, a landmark ruling was made by a federal judge in the United States.
Prosecutors in Missouri had filed a lawsuit in the early stages of the pandemic against the Chinese government, accusing them of concealing the outbreak, hoarding medical supplies, leading to a global outbreak of COVID-19. In early March, a federal judge ruled in favor of the state of Missouri, ordering the Chinese authorities to pay over $24 billion for the disaster caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey stated in a release that “this is a milestone victory for Missouri and the United States in holding China (the CCP) accountable for releasing the COVID-19 virus globally.”