U.S. intelligence indicates that the coronavirus likely occurred naturally, as opposed to being created in a laboratory in China, but there is no certainty either way, the top U.S. general said on Tuesday.
The remarks by U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, could fan speculation about the coronavirus' origins -- something China has dismissed as a conspiracy theory that is unhelpful to the fight against the pandemic.
Asked whether he had any evidence that the virus began in a Chinese laboratory and was perhaps released accidentally, Milley was noncommittal at a Pentagon news briefing.