White House changes COVID.gov to page blaming China lab for pandemic

The origin of Covid-19 has been one of the most debated topics since the pandemic began

The White House has redirected COVID.gov to a new landing page titled "Lab Leak: True Origins of COVID-19," strongly pushing the theory that the Covid-19 pandemic began with a lab accident in China's Wuhan.

 

The new page draws heavily from the final report of the Republican-led Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, published in December 2024. So far, there has been no definitive proof or consensus about what exactly started the pandemic.

 

Until last week, COVID.gov provided public resources for Covid-19 testing, treatments, vaccines, and information about long Covid. Now, the updated site lays out five key arguments supporting the lab leak theory.

 

 

Five key arguments made by the White House

 

The White House outlines these five points:

 

- The virus has a biological feature "not found in nature."  

 

- Data suggests all cases stemmed from a "single introduction into humans."

 

- Wuhan hosts China's top SARS research laboratory.  

 

- Researchers at the Wuhan lab reportedly "were sick with Covid-like symptoms in the fall of 2019."  

 

- If Covid-19 had a natural origin, "evidence would have already surfaced."

 

Fauci and the controversy over Covid-19 origins

 

The page also alleges that government officials, including former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr Anthony Fauci, helped edit and promote a 2020 research paper that supported the natural origin theory of Covid-19. 

 

It further claims the paper was designed specifically to dismiss the lab leak idea.

 

These accusations are not new. In the past, Dr Fauci and the paper’s authors have strongly denied that the research was manipulated or had any hidden agenda.

 

A debate without definitive answers

 

The origin of Covid-19 has been one of the most heated debates since the pandemic began. Experts and agencies have mostly centred discussions around two possibilities: a natural jump from animals to humans or an accidental leak from a lab.

 

However, without a "smoking gun" and limited access to critical raw data, the debate has remained clouded by circumstantial evidence.

 

Intelligence reports show divided opinions

 

In 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a declassified report showing that while the intelligence community leaned slightly toward natural spillover, it was divided overall. 

 

A follow-up report in 2023 echoed that divide. US agencies generally agreed that the virus was not created as a biological weapon and that Chinese leaders likely had no prior knowledge of the outbreak.

 

New COVID.gov page criticises US pandemic response

 

The newly launched COVID.gov page features a prominent photo of Dr Fauci alongside mention of the pardon he received from former US President Joe Biden, which covered "any offenses." It also accuses federal agencies such as the NIH and HHS of breaking transparency laws and failing to fully cooperate with Congressional investigations. However, these agencies did comply with FOIA requests and testified when summoned.

 

The page further questions the effectiveness of pandemic measures like social distancing, masking, and lockdowns, and it criticises how New York officials managed their Covid-19 response.

 

‘Absolutely false, simply preposterous’

 

In 2024, Dr Fauci testified before Congress about these accusations. He firmly denied claims that he covered up information or improperly influenced research.

 

"The accusation being circulated that I influenced the scientists to change their minds by bribing them with millions of dollars in grant money is absolutely false, and simply preposterous. I had no input into the content of the published paper," Fauci said during a June 2024 hearing.

 

He added, "The second issue is a false accusation that I tried to cover up the possibility that the virus originated from a lab. In fact, the truth is exactly the opposite."

 

Trump, Covid-19 and strained relations with China

 

This isn’t the first time the White House has taken a public stand on Covid-19's origins. In January, US President Donald Trump spoke at the World Economic Forum, sharing that the pandemic had damaged his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

 

"But, I like President Xi very much. I've always liked him. We always had a very good relationship. It was very strained with Covid coming out of Wuhan. Obviously, that strained it. I'm sure it strained it with a lot of people, but that strained our relationship," Trump had said.

 

(With agency inputs)