​British Intel Agencies Say Theory is 'Feasible' That COVID-19 Outbreak Started in Chinese Labs

Renewed efforts to investigate the origin of the coronavirus pandemic are gaining strength as officials are calling on China to allow lab examinations in Wuhan as a possible source of the virus.

According to The Washington Post, recent reports indicate that China's Wuhan Institute of Virology was closely involved with the outbreak, not through animal-to-human transmission, which was the widely accepted belief. 

Now intelligence services in the United Kingdom say the theory is "feasible," even though British spies once dismissed the suspicion.

One British intelligence officer told The London Times, "There might be pockets of evidence that take us one way, and evidence that takes us another way. The Chinese will lie either way. I don't think we will ever know." 

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And last week, President Biden gave U.S. Intelligence Agencies 90 days to determine whether the virus began in a lab last spring.

Peter Hotez, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine told NBC News's "Meet The Press" on Sunday that it's "absolutely essential" to know the source of the virus in order to prevent future outbreaks. 

"There's going to be COVID-26 and COVID-32 unless we fully understand the origins of COVID-19," he explained. "I'm personally of the opinion we've pushed intelligence as far as we can. What we need to do is an outbreak investigation."

Initially, the lab theory was supported by former President Donald Trump and multiple Republican senators but dismissed by many Democrats.

"The American people deserve to know about the origins of COVID-19," says Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO).

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), who is on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, is now saying, "We have to have answers to these questions."

And former Food and Drug Administration chief, Scott Gottlieb, noted on Sunday that China's lack of cooperation was enough to raise suspicions.

"China could provide evidence that would be exculpatory here," he said on CBS News's "Face the Nation," pointing to blood samples from lab workers. "They have refused to do that."

Some Chinese communist media sources have tried to deflect the blame from their own regime by suggesting that Fort Detrick, a U.S. Army research laboratory in Maryland, could be the cause of the outbreak.