The BND, Germany's foreign intelligence agency received evidence five years ago that COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China and was accidentally released into the world from that laboratory, the German newspapers Die Zeit and Sueddeutscher Zeitung reported.

Intelligence materials that leaked from China and reached Germany indicate that the reasons for the outbreak of the pandemic were the use of dangerous research methods and violations of safety regulations in the Wuhan laboratory.

According to the report, based on these intelligence materials, German intelligence concluded in 2020 with 80%-95% probability that the virus originated at the Wuhan lab and was man-made. However, this conclusion was not made public.

Earlier this year, a CIA report was also published stating that the coronavirus likely leaked from a laboratory in China, and did not jump from animals to humans as claimed by the Chinese authorities.

The new CIA director, John Ratcliffe, approved the publication of a secret report that was written by CIA personnel during the Biden Administration and then hidden from the public, according to which the intelligence agency believes that the coronavirus leaked from a laboratory in China and spread around the world.