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 CIA on Saturday offered a new assessment on the origin of the Covid outbreak, saying the coronavirus is "more likely" to have leaked from a Chinese lab than to have come from animals. But the intelligence agency cautioned it had "low confidence" in this determination.

The CIA says both a natural origin and a lab leak "remain plausible" as potential sources of covid-19, following a review of the pandemic's origins.

Langley joins the FBI and Energy Department in agreeing that a lab leak is the most likely source of the pandemic.

A new analysis that began under the Biden administration is released by the C.I.A.’s new director, John Ratcliffe, who wants the agency to get “off the sidelines” in the debate.

The intelligence agency says it has a “low confidence” in its new finding, but this is further than it has ever gone in pinpointing the origin of a virus that killed millions worldwide.

Ex-CNN editor Chris Cilizza conceded on Monday that he "screwed up" in his assessment of the lab leak theory, suggesting that President Trump was likely right about COVID's origins.

Since COVID-19 first took off, political leaders, infectious disease specialists, and the lay public have debated its origins. Eventually, two hypotheses emerged: Either the virus crossed over from animals to humans in a wet market in Wuhan—the city in which the disease first appeared—or it leaked from a Chinese lab,