The Trump administration has replaced the government’s main portal for information about Covid with a website arguing that the coronavirus leaked from a lab, throwing its weight behind a theory of the pandemic’s origins that is so far not backed by direct evidence and that has divided intelligence agencies.
Covid.gov and Covidtests.gov, federal websites that used to deliver information about Covid and allow people to order tests, now redirect to the lab leak web page. Carrying an image of President Trump flanked by the words “Lab Leak,” the new page is illustrated by a satellite image of Wuhan, China, the city where Covid began spreading, and says it will describe “the true origins of Covid-19.”
The website notes that the city is home to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a coronavirus lab that had been involved with research projects that some scientists considered dangerous. It also alludes to concerns that the lab had conducted its work under improper safety conditions. Officials at the Central Intelligence Agency cited those concerns when the agency recently shifted its position to favor the lab leak hypothesis.
But the page does not address other details about the early spread of the virus, like where patients lived and worked and genetic clues from an illegal wild-animal market in Wuhan where many cases were detected. Many scientists believe that information points to the virus having spilled from animals into people at the market.
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Since Mr. Trump returned to office, White House officials have begun describing the lab leak theory as “confirmable truth.” The C.I.A. shifted its assessment with “low confidence”; the agency’s decision was not based on new intelligence, but rather a closer look at evidence about safety conditions in Wuhan labs.
The White House stance masks uncertainty within the ranks of government intelligence agencies about the origins of the pandemic. Intelligence officials and scientists have noted that, since 2020, China has withheld crucial information that could have shed light on the question.
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