Trump says coronavirus originated from China's Wuhan lab; undercuts intelligence community

The deadly coronavirus originated from a virology lab in China's Wuhan city before it spread across the world and claimed over 233,000 lives and shattered global economies, US President Donald Trump has said.

Trump's comments undercut a rare public statement from his own intelligence community on Thursday which stated no such assessment has been made by them whether the COVID-19 outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.

Ever since the virus outbreak came to light in Wuhan in December last, speculation has been rife on whether the viral strain originated from China's premier Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) or from its nearby Huanan Seafood Market. The US has launched an investigation into whether the deadly virus "escaped" from the WIV.

At his daily White House briefing on the COVID-19 outbreak in the US on Thursday, Trump was asked by a reporter: "Have you seen anything at this point that gives you a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the origin of this virus?"
Asked what gave him a high degree of confidence that the virus originated from the WIV, he said, "I can't tell you that. I'm not allowed to tell you that."
Reiterating that the coronavirus could have been contained at Wuhan Trump said, "They were either unable to, or they chose not to. And the world has suffered greatly."
One of two things happened, he reasoned. "They either didn't do it and you know they couldn't do it from a competent standpoint or they let it spread and I would say probably it got out of control."