Demand from oversight body Investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic should be shared with the public

dpa

14.3.2025 - 06:25

Germany's Federal Intelligence Service has carried out research into the origins of the pandemic, and the body responsible for overseeing the intelligence services considers this to be a good thing. But it would have liked to have been informed.

DPA

14.03.2025, 06:25

14.03.2025, 06:26

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The Bundestag's intelligence committee has called on the German government to share its findings on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic with the population.
As several media reported this week, the Chancellery had asked scientists to examine evidence from the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) regarding the claim that the virus originated in a laboratory in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

The Bundestag's intelligence committee has called on the German government to share its findings on the origin of the coronavirus pandemic with the public. In a statement agreed by the Parliamentary Control Panel after a meeting on Thursday evening, it said: "The Panel expressly welcomes the interest in clarification and the investigation process itself." However, it expects the Federal Government to inform the public accordingly at the latest after the forthcoming conclusion of the investigations.

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Experts should evaluate evidence

As several media reported this week, the Chancellery had asked scientists to examine evidence from the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) regarding the claim that the virus originated from a laboratory in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. According to the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung", the BND had plausible evidence for the so-called laboratory theory. These were to be evaluated by a panel of experts at meetings in recent months.

Barbed wire around the Institute of Virology in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The Federal Intelligence Service considers it likely that an accident in the laboratory was the cause of the global coronavirus pandemic. (archive image)
Picture: Keystone/EPA/Alex Plavevski

The "Süddeutsche Zeitung" and "Die Zeit" also report on corresponding research results. According to the laboratory theory, the Sars-CoV-2 virus originates from a Chinese biological laboratory, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which conducts research on coronaviruses, among other things. The second theory is that the virus had a natural origin, just like the Sars epidemic of 2002/2003.

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Drosten: Source data not accessible

The Berlin virologist involved, Christian Drosten, said that although he was impressed by the BND's summary of the results, the source data had not been made available to the group of scientists. "I therefore cannot make a scientific judgment simply because of the lack of access to data." However, given the public information available to date, there is a clear probability of a natural virus origin.

The committee responsible for monitoring the intelligence services has now announced that it has taken note of the media reports. At the meeting, the Federal Government had now described the facts of the case differently in some respects to how they were presented. Nevertheless, the government should have informed the oversight body earlier which specific working hypotheses regarding the origin of the pandemic the BND was investigating and clarifying.