China Responds to US Energy Department , Conclusion on COVID Origins.<br />On February 28, China said it has been "open and <br />transparent" regarding the origins of COVID-19, amid <br />lingering questions of how the pandemic began.<br />On February 28, China said it has been "open and <br />transparent" regarding the origins of COVID-19, amid <br />lingering questions of how the pandemic began.<br />Associated Press reports that the U.S. Department <br />of Energy (DOE) said with "low confidence" that the <br />pandemic was first detected in Wuhan in late 2019.<br />According to the Energy Department report, <br />which has yet to be made public, the pandemic <br />started with a leak of the virus from a lab in Wuhan. .<br />In response, China's Foreign Ministry <br />spokesperson Mao Ning Mao said that China had , “shared the most data and research results <br />on virus tracing and made important <br />contributions to global virus tracing research.”.<br />Politicizing the issue of virus tracing <br />will not smear China but will only <br />damage the U.S.’s own credibility, Mao Ning Mao, China's Foreign Ministry <br />spokesperson, via Associated Press.<br />Politicizing the issue of virus tracing <br />will not smear China but will only <br />damage the U.S.’s own credibility, Mao Ning Mao, China's Foreign Ministry <br />spokesperson, via Associated Press.<br />AP reports that the comments by China come <br />amid ongoing questions about how the virus, <br />which has killed over 6.8 million people, originated. .<br />Meanwhile, other members of the U.S. intelligence <br />community reportedly disagree with the Energy <br />Department conclusion of a lab leak. .<br />There is just not an intelligence <br />community consensus, John Kirby, the spokesman for the National <br />Security Council, via Associated Press.<br />'The Wall Street Journal' first reported on <br />the DOE assessment, noting that the classified <br />report was based on new intelligence. .<br />AP reports that the DOE oversees <br />a network of labs across the U.S
