WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Joe Biden is asking the U.S. intelligence community to "redouble" its efforts to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said there is insufficient evidence to conclude "whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident."
He directed U.S. national laboratories to assist with the investigation and called on China to cooperate with international probes into the origins of the pandemic. He held out the possibility that a firm conclusion may never be known, given the Chinese government's refusal to fully cooperate with international investigations.
"The failure to get our inspectors on the ground in those early months will always hamper any investigation into the origin of COVID-19," Biden said in a statement Wednesday.
