Joe Biden signs bill requiring declassification of Covid origins information
- The legislation passed unanimously in the Senate and House of Representatives before being sent to the White House
- A recent media report reignited the debate on whether the coronavirus pandemic was the result of a lab leak in China
US President Joe Biden on Monday signed a bill that requires declassification of information related to the origins of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, the White House said.
Biden said he shared Congress’ goal of releasing as much information as possible about the origin of Covid-19.
“In implementing this legislation, my administration will declassify and share as much of that information as possible, consistent with my constitutional authority to protect against the disclosure of information that would harm national security,” Biden said in a statement.
The bill sailed through the Senate and House of Representatives without opposition before being sent to the White House.
Washington has been conducting a highly politicised debate about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic almost since the first human cases were reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, amid calls from both Biden’s fellow Democrats and Republicans to push back harder against a rising China.
The debate was refuelled last month, when the Wall Street Journal reported that the US Energy Department had assessed with that the pandemic likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak, an assessment Beijing denies.