According to the White House, there is still no uniform view within the US government about the origin of the corona virus. "There is currently no consensus in the US government as to how exactly Covid came about," National Security Council communications director John Kirby said in Washington on Monday.

He had been asked about a media report that the US Department of Energy had changed its assessment of the origin of the corona virus and was now assuming a possible laboratory breakdown.

"The intelligence community and the rest of the government are still looking into this," Kirby said. There is no final conclusion yet. He said he could neither confirm nor deny the report. Biden's National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, made a similar statement on Sunday. What US President Joe Biden wants are facts, Kirby emphasized. "He wants the whole government to get these facts together, and that's what we're doing. We're just not there yet."

China rejected the media reports. Beijing's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said yesterday the search for the origin of the virus is a scientific matter and should "not be politicized".