FBI Director Christopher Wray has told Fox News that the office’s ongoing investigation into the origins of COVID-19 suggests that the virus broke out after a possible laboratory incident in Wuhan, China. The FBI’s assessment is not the consensus among the scientific and intelligence communities.

“The FBI has assessed for quite some time that the origins of the pandemic are likely to be a possible laboratory incident in Wuhan,” Wray said, adding later in the interview that the FBI’s work on the matter is continuing.

“I’ll just make the point that it seems to me that the Chinese government has been doing everything they can to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here… and that’s unfortunate for everyone.”

The evaluation is not new. The office previously concluded with moderate confidence that COVID first arose accidentally from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was working on coronaviruses.

And the FBI’s assessment is far from universal. Four other US intelligence agencies, as well as the National Intelligence Council, say with little confidence that COVID arose through natural transmission.

However, Wray’s comments are the first in public from a senior law enforcement official after the classified report from the Department of Energy, published by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, saying the pandemic was likely caused by a laboratory leak in China. That assessment was reportedly of “low confidence”.

Concerns over COVID origins arise as US-China tensions rise

Eight US government agencies are investigating the source of COVID-19 and remain sharply divided on the issue. None of them are sure of the cause. Four lean towards natural causes. Two have not taken a position.

Meanwhile, the evidence produced by the larger scientific community overwhelmingly points to a natural cause, through exposure to an infected animal.

The revival of the debate over the origins of COVID comes at a tense time for Sino-US relations.

The two sides have clashed over China’s use of alleged spy balloons over the US; his policy towards Russia and the Ukraine; its belligerence towards Taiwan, which views Beijing as a renegade province; and the apparent dangers of TikTok.

In a rare display of bipartisanship, Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill on Tuesday focused on the threats they believe the Chinese government poses in a series of hearings culminating in one by the newly formed House Select Committee on Strategic Competition. between the US and the Chinese Communist Party.