Biden says he hasn't decided if he will sign a bill that will declassify COVID-19's origin

US President Joe Biden has not yet determined whether he will sign a bill mandating the declassification of all materials pertaining to the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is responsible for the global COVID-19 pandemic. In response to reporters' inquiries on Friday, Biden stated, "I haven't made that decision yet." This follows the passage of a measure in the US House of Representatives earlier that day, which requires the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to declassify any relevant information regarding the emergence of the novel Coronavirus.

Under the new legislation, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) must disclose any information regarding potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China and the emergence of COVID-19 within 90 days of the bill's enactment. The bill was already approved by the Senate earlier this month and now that it has been passed by the House, it awaits President Joe Biden's final endorsement. In testimony before Congress last week, FBI Director Christopher Wray stated that the agency's analysis suggests that COVID-19 likely originated from a laboratory in Wuhan. However, other US intelligence agencies maintain that the pandemic originated from a market in Wuhan.

Where did the virus emerge from?

In February, Republican lawmakers submitted another request to the Biden administration for information related to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic as part of an ongoing inquiry by a select subcommittee. They also reiterated their earlier request for a classified briefing on the issue from the US intelligence community.

In March of the same year, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report detailing the findings of its initial fact-finding mission to Wuhan, China, where the first known outbreak of COVID-19 occurred. The report determined that it was "extremely unlikely" that the virus had escaped from a state-run laboratory in Wuhan. Instead, the experts posited that the virus was likely transmitted to humans through an intermediate animal host after originating from bats.