The CIA now assesses the virus that causes Covid-19 more likely originated from an accidental lab leak in China, rather than occurring naturally, according to a statement from the agency Saturday, just days after Director John Ratcliffe took the reins.

It was unclear the extent to which the agency has collected new intelligence on COVID-19's origins and whether that new evidence was used to formulate the latest assessment.

The assessment released Saturday points at China while acknowledging that the CIA has “low confidence” in its own conclusion.

The intelligence agency says it has a “low confidence” in its new finding, but this is further than it has ever gone in pinpointing the origin of a virus that killed millions worldwide.

The Central Intelligence Agency said the Covid-19 pandemic “more likely” originated from a lab leak than a natural source, shifting its stance after previously saying both scenarios were possible.

CIA continues to assess that both research-related and natural origin scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic remain plausible.”

The Central Intelligence Agency said Saturday that it’s more likely a lab leak caused the Covid-19 pandemic than an infected animal that spread the virus to people, changing the agency’s yearslong stance that it couldn’t conclude with certainty where the pandemic started.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has assessed that the COVID-19 pandemic is "more likely" to have emerged from a lab rather than from nature, an agency spokesperson said on Saturday (Jan 25). The

New CIA Director John Ratcliffe ordered the covid origins analysis declassified, which a spokesperson described as a “low-confidence” assessment.