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.

In one of his first acts as Donald Trump’s CIA director, John Ratcliffe had the agency publish an assessment backing the once relatively fringe theory that the COVID-19 pandemic began with an accidental leak at a research lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

The nuanced finding suggests the agency believes the totality of evidence makes a lab origin more likely than a natural origin.