The billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft cofounder thinks the world is poised to make the same mistakes from the last pandemic.
Previously, the CIA did not take a position on where the virus - which is responsible for more than seven million deaths worldwide - came from.
Bill Gates said in a recent interview that the chance of another pandemic in the next 4 years is between 10% and 15%.
The CIA now assesses the virus that causes Covid-19 more likely originated from an accidental lab leak in China, rather than occurring naturally, according to a statement from the agency Saturday, just days after Director John Ratcliffe took the reins.
The Central Intelligence Agency said Saturday that it’s more likely a lab leak caused the Covid-19 pandemic than an infected animal that spread the virus to people, changing the agency’s yearslong stance that it couldn’t conclude with certainty where the pandemic started.
On March 11, it will be five years since the declaration of covid-19 or novel coronavirus as a pandemic by World Health Organization, and when it was announced by WHO on 5 May 2023 that ‘The head of
NEW YORK - The Central Intelligence Agency has assessed that the Covid-19 pandemic is "more likely" to have emerged from a lab rather than from nature, an agency spokesperson said on Saturday (Jan 25).
The CIA has assessed that COVID-19 likely originated from a lab incident, though both lab and natural origins remain plausible.
The report was declassified and released Saturday on the orders of President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency, John Ratcliffe, who was sworn in Thursday as director.
SARS-CoV-2 virus, which emerged in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. The ensuing pandemic has killed millions worldwide. Vaccines have made the condition much less fatal for those who have been vaccinated,
The origins of the COVID-19 pandemic remain uncertain years after the virus first emerged. While various theories have been debated, the question of whether the outbreak was caused by natural transmission or a laboratory incident continues to spark global controversy.