Washington (AFP)

Joe Biden accused China on Friday of withholding "crucial information on the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic", after the publication of the summary of a US intelligence investigative report still proving unable to decide on the issue.

This report classified top secret was submitted this week to the American president, who had given 90 days to the intelligence services to "redouble their efforts" to explain the origin of the pandemic.

According to a summary released on Friday, intelligence could conclude that SARS-CoV-2, the scientific name for the virus, had not been developed "as a biological weapon", and was "probably" not "genetically engineered". ".

But they remain divided between the hypothesis of a first case caused by natural exposure to an infected animal, or having resulted from a laboratory accident.

"Crucial information on the origins of the pandemic exists in China, and yet from the start, government officials in China have been working to prevent international investigators and global public health actors from accessing it," the US president charged. in a press release.

- No "definitive" explanation -

In detail, four intelligence agencies and the National Intelligence Council believe with "a low degree of confidence" that the animal thesis is the most "probable".

They rely in particular, to justify their verdict, on "the many vectors for animal exposure" existing, as well as the ignorance by China of the existence of the virus before its appearance.

"The intelligence community of the United States believes that Chinese officials had no prior knowledge of the virus before the start of the epidemic," it is indeed written in the summary of the report.

However, another intelligence agency considers with "a moderate level of confidence" that the thesis of a laboratory leak is to be favored, "probably" via "experiments, the handling of animals, or samples by the Institute. of Wuhan Virology ".

Here, experts give more "weight" to the "inherent risk" of the coronavirus research, which was indeed conducted in Wuhan.

The hypothesis would be that this work could have led to the accidental infection of an employee.

Finally, "analysts from three agencies" do not decide between one or the other of the hypotheses.

The intelligence services consider themselves "unable to provide a more definitive explanation" at the origin of the Covid-19 without "new information" provided by China, they write.

- "Transparency" -

"To this day, China continues to reject calls for transparency and to hide information, even as the toll of this pandemic continues to climb," blamed Joe Biden in his statement.

"Our efforts to understand the origin of this pandemic will not weaken," he promised.

A team of international experts sent by the WHO traveled to Wuhan in January 2021 for a "first phase" study into the origin of the virus.

But their report, written in collaboration with Chinese specialists, had been widely criticized.

The study estimated that passage of the bat virus to humans via an intermediate animal was the most likely scenario.

She considered "extremely unlikely" that the virus came from a laboratory.

In mid-August, China rejected the WHO's call for a new investigation on its territory.

Determining how the virus, which has killed more than 4.47 million people worldwide, passed to humans is considered crucial in trying to prevent the next pandemic.

The hypothesis of a laboratory leak had largely been ruled out at the start of the pandemic by the scientific community.

But the famous intermediate animal remaining untraceable, this thesis had returned in force in the American public debate in the spring.

In mid-May, around fifteen experts had published an article in the prestigious journal Science calling for it to be seriously considered.

Gradually, however, the scientific community seems to be backtracking.

Last week, in this same journal, six scientists published an article with the telling title: "the animal origin of SARS-CoV-2".

And in another scientific publication, Cell, 21 eminent researchers concluded: "There is currently no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 originates from a laboratory."

© 2021 AFP