The CIA has announced that it believes the COVID-19 pandemic “more likely” originated from a laboratory leak than a natural event.

The CIA’s “low confidence” assessment comes after John Ratcliffe was on Thursday sworn in as director of the top intelligence agency under United States President Donald Trump.

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The “CIA continues to assess that both research-related and natural origin scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic remain plausible”, a spokesperson said on Saturday.

“We have low confidence in this judgement and will continue to evaluate any available credible new intelligence reporting or open-source information that could change CIA’s assessment.”

US media reported that the assessment had been ordered under the administration of former US President Joe Biden and was completed before Ratcliffe took up his post.

Following the CIA’s announcement, three US agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Energy, have now publicly backed the theory that COVID-19 most likely escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China.

China’s embassy in Washington, DC, rejected the CIA assessment, which it said “concocts misleading conclusions, throws dirty water on China, and engages in framing.”

“It is still an old routine of political manipulation of tracing the source and has no credibility. The source of the virus is a complex scientific issue, and scientists and experts should find the answer through rigorous and meticulous scientific research, rather than being judged by politicians,” embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said.

“We firmly oppose the politicization and stigmatization of the source of the virus, and once again call on everyone to respect science and stay away from conspiracy theories.”

Liu added that China “has always adhered to the spirit of science, openness and transparency” and pointed to a 2021 World Health Organisation-China joint study that concluded a lab leak was “extremely unlikely”.

Four other US intelligence agencies and the National Intelligence Council have stated that they believe the virus most likely emerged via natural transmission.

In an interview with Breitbart News on Friday, Ratcliffe had said that COVID’s origins would be a “day-one” priority.

“I’ve been on record as you know in saying I think our intelligence, our science, and our common sense all really dictates that the origins of COVID was a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. But the CIA has not made that assessment or at least not made that assessment publicly,” Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term, told the outlet.

“So I’m going to focus on that and look at the intelligence and make sure that the public is aware that the agency is going to get off the sidelines.”