this is a possible origin that needs to be further investigated. david, the former fda commissioner dr. scott gottlieb pointing out that there s a lot of circumstantial evidence that the virus may have originated in the lab. you visited wuhan, the lab in question. take us behind the scenes. what was that like? reporter: going to wuhan is always an interesting experience. ive i ve gone three times since the outbreak. what we saw the most recent time we went, january of this year, one year after the outbreak was really widespread in its reporting and one year since the lockdown, is that we were followed closely. and even as we drove by here as you re seeing the wuhan institute of virology, we had people following us in vehicles, likely government officials, not interfering with our reporting but certainly wanting to know what we were doing. as you look at the wuhan institute of virology, which is really the center point and heavy focus for this possible origin theory, you notice it s
multiple origin theory the virus could have emerged from multiple locations around the world at the same time. and without any concrete evidence pointing a finger at a u.s.-military run lab in maryland. this is to the going to stop. and with the latest report, it s going to be intensified. remember most of what is in this latest report is not new. we have heard it before. including the fact that some researchers at the wuhan institute fell im. it was revealed by a state appointment document in the final days of the trump administration. what is new here is the fact these researchers have to be hospitalized. really in the way pointing to the severity of their symptoms that, of course, is now drawing more attention to the lab and fuelling more debate. but from the chinese perspective, though, this is not anything definitive. that s something acknowledged by u.s. intelligence officials, as women well.
actually went on to really have, you know, more of the chinese usual spiel about how they are increasingly looking at a multiple origin theory about the virus emerging from different locations around the world at the same time and speaking at a u.s. biomedical lab without providing concrete evidence. this back and forth is not likely to stop because of the latest intelligence reports, and it s only going to be more intensified. what is interesting here, of course, this latest report, most of what is in the report we have heard before. the only interesting new addition is in terms of these researchers being hospital sized hospitalized in 2019, and they stopped short of confirming the wuhan lab being the origin
criticism. it s from the u.s., the uk, from european nations. as far as china s response, they re not happy with this. they have pushed back against this repeatedly over the last year plus and continuing to do so as recently as monday when the foreign ministry spoke about this, they answered a question if this possible origin theory, one they again consider to have ruled out a long time ago. i want you to listen to how the foreign ministry is reshaping the narrative. take a listen. translator: the wuhan institute of virology chinese academy of sciences issued a vel rant statement on march 23rd this year. stating that before december 20th 2019 coronavirus was not contracted at the wuhan institute of virology, until now there has been zero infection of staff and post-graduate students at the institute. the united states continues to hype the lab leak theory, does it care about origin tracing or
at that research lab in wuhan of were hospitalized in november of 2019 with unknown illness. cnn is following the story. natasha, tell us about this report. hey, alisyn, yeah, this report basically adds more details about the potential origin theory about covid-19 and how the pandemic spread. what it says is that these researchers at the wuhan stult of virlgy became sick enough in november 2019, about a month before the first symptoms first appeared according to china of covid-19 and sick enough to seek hospital treatment. this potentially moves up the time line of the outbreak ever covid-19. though it s important to note that the intel community still doesn t know for sure whether the researchers had covid-19. they don t know what kplekt they were sick with. however the report notes the symptoms were consistent with