
By Dan McCaleb | The Center Square
(Worthy News) – The COVID-19 virus “more likely” originated from a research lab in China, the CIA now says, though it has “low confidence” in its determination.
Multiple media outlets are reporting the CIA shifted its position from being undecided on the origin to saying it more likely came from the Wuhan lab rather than from human exposure to an infected animal such as a bat.
“CIA assesses with low confidence that a research-related origin of the COVID-19 pandemic is more likely than a natural origin based on the available body of reporting,” a CIA spokesperson said in a statement, according to NBC News. “CIA continues to assess that both research-related and natural origin scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic remain plausible.”
Other federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Energy and former FBI Director Christopher Wray, have said the Wuhan lab is the likely origin of the COVID-19 virus, but expressed a similar lack of confidence as the CIA.
COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020, leading elected officials across the U.S. and the world to issue stay-at-home orders that led to millions of job losses. More than 1 million Americans died from COVID-19.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
The partial government shutdown stretched into its 39th day Tuesday as Senate Democrats rejected a Republican-backed plan to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, drawing sharp criticism from conservatives who argue politics is being placed ahead of national security.
Louisville, Kentucky has agreed to pay $800,000 in attorney’s fees to Christian photographer Chelsey Nelson following her legal victory over the city’s public accommodations law, which had required her to photograph same-sex weddings if she offered services for traditional marriages.
Israeli intelligence assessments indicate Hezbollah has been significantly weakened, losing an estimated 85% of its missile arsenal since the war ignited by Hamas’ October 7 massacre. The Iranian-backed terror group is now believed to possess between 11,000 and 13,000 rockets—roughly one-sixth of its pre-war stockpile.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the ongoing conflict with Iran has already resulted in what he described as a “regime change,” signaling a dramatic shift in leadership dynamics within the Iranian government as Washington presses forward with negotiations to end hostilities.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz announced Tuesday that Israeli forces plan to occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, outlining a strategy to create a “defensive buffer” amid ongoing conflict with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization.
The Pentagon is preparing to deploy a brigade combat team from the Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing U.S. officials, signaling a significant escalation in America’s posture toward Iran.
A senior leader of one of Nigeria’s largest evangelical denominations has been abducted in Nigeria’s central Plateau State while concern remains about several Christian worshipers kidnapped elsewhere in the turbulent African nation, Christian sources said Tuesday.