NEW YORK – The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) announced on Saturday that it believes it is “more likely” COVID-19 originated from a laboratory rather than coming from natural sources, according to a spokesperson from the agency.

For years, the CIA maintained it could not definitively determine if the virus was the result of a lab accident or if it emerged from a natural setting.

The agency has stated that its confidence in this latest assessment is “low,” suggesting that both possibilities—lab origin and natural origin—are still credible.

The Chinese embassy in Washington has not responded immediately to requests for comments regarding this assessment.

It remains unclear how much new intelligence the CIA has acquired concerning the origins of COVID-19 and whether this information influenced their recent conclusion.

The Chinese government has expressed its support for research aimed at uncovering the virus’s origins and has accused the U.S. of politicizing the investigation, particularly as U.S. intelligence agencies have been involved in examining the issue.

Beijing has dismissed allegations that a lab leak could have caused the pandemic as lacking credibility.

In a conversation with Breitbart after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Friday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe noted that prioritizing a public assessment of the pandemic’s origins was high on his agenda.

“That’s a day-one thing for me,” he stated. “I’ve consistently expressed that I believe our intelligence, science, and common sense all suggest that the origins of COVID were a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”

(Reporting by Erin Banco; Editing by Daniel Wallis)