Covid: Biden orders investigation into virus origin as lab leak theory debated
US President Joe Biden has ordered intelligence officials to "redouble" efforts to investigate the origins of Covid-19, including the theory that it came from a laboratory in China.
He said the US intelligence community was split on whether it came from a lab accident or emerged from human contact with an infected animal.
Mr Biden asked the groups to report back to him within 90 days.
China has rejected the laboratory theory.
"Smear campaigns and blame shifting are making a comeback, and the conspiracy theory of 'lab leak' is resurfacing," its embassy in the US said in a statement on Thursday.
Since it was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, more than 168 million cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed worldwide and at least 3.5 million deaths reported.
Authorities linked early Covid cases to a seafood market in Wuhan, leading scientists to theorise the virus first passed to humans from animals.
But recent US media reports have suggested growing evidence the virus could instead have emerged from a laboratory in China, perhaps through an accidental leak.
