A report from Germany’s foreign intelligence service (BND) allegedly concluded in 2020 that there was an 80% to 90% probability that the coronavirus accidentally originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, according to German newspapers Die Zeit and Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Although the report was never officially published, it has recently come to light, revealing details of an investigation linking the pandemic’s origin to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
According to German media, the BND conducted this assessment as part of an operation called “Project Saaremaa,” which analyzed possible causes of the COVID-19 outbreak. While the report did not contain conclusive evidence, it identified indications that experiments were being conducted at the Wuhan laboratory to modify viruses and make them more transmissible to humans for scientific purposes. Additionally, the BND detected possible safety violations at the facility.
The BND’s analysis was requested in 2020 by the office of then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at a time when the world was searching for answers about the pandemic’s origin. However, the findings were not made public at the time. According to Die Zeit and Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the BND’s findings were shared with the CIA in the fall of 2022.
In January 2023, the CIA also addressed the issue, stating that a “research-related cause” was more likely than a natural origin for the virus, although it noted that its confidence level in this conclusion was low. This stance adds to an ongoing global debate, as there is still no definitive scientific consensus on the origins of COVID-19.
The Chinese government has repeatedly rejected the lab-leak theory, calling it “extremely unlikely.” In response to these recent revelations, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning stated that tracing the origin of COVID-19 should be a scientific matter, not a political one. Mao also recalled that a joint investigation between China and the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2021 concluded that the lab-leak hypothesis was “extremely unlikely.”
The WHO mission, which included a visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, lasted 12 days and involved inspections and discussions with the lab’s researchers. According to its final report, the transmission of the virus to humans via an animal host was the most likely explanation, while the lab-leak theory was considered a remote possibility.
Since the start of the pandemic, the lab-leak theory has been a source of controversy. While some scientists and intelligence agencies have considered this possibility, others have pointed to the lack of conclusive evidence to support it. According to German media, the BND assessed the hypothesis as “probable” in its report but did not provide definitive proof to confirm it.
The debate over COVID-19’s origins has both scientific and political implications. While China has accused some countries of politicizing the issue, other nations have called for more thorough and transparent investigations. In this context, revelations about the BND report add a new chapter to a crucial discussion about how the pandemic began and how future outbreaks can be prevented.
Neither the BND nor current German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has commented on these recent revelations. The lack of official statements underscores the sensitivity of the issue, which involves both national security concerns and diplomatic relations with China.
Meanwhile, the scientific community and governments worldwide continue to seek answers about the origins of the virus that has caused millions of deaths and transformed daily life on a global scale. Ongoing investigations and new reports like the BND’s could shed more light on this complex and controversial issue in the future.
